Ramsammy offers new opportunity to students in Trinidad

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By: Nicole Scipione

Web Editor

President Roger Ramsammy, a Trinidad native, was invited by Joseph Mondello, the United States Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, to discuss potential education opportunities with students in Trinidad.

He traveled to the island on Feb. 12 and returned to Troy Fed. 15. Ramsammy was accompanied by Regina LaGatta, executive director of the Hudson Valley Community College Foundation, and Neil Kelleher, chairman of the Hudson Valley Community College Board of Trustees.

The Ambassador’s office hosted a presentation by Hudson Valley to over 60 public school guidance counselors from Trinidad, along with receptions and presentations at private girls and boys schools.

“It was like a pep rally,” LaGatta explained. ‘It was exciting, and we did a Q and A with the girls,” she said. “It was really really good.”

The affordability of a community college was attractive to Trinidadian students as opposed to the higher cost of a four-year university.

“The families of the islands don’t have that capacity, so a two-year education is more affordable for them,” LaGatta said. “Also, they are really looking at a lot of the programs that we offer to help their economy, [and] to help their workforce.” These programs include teacher prep, advanced manufacturing, dental hygiene and nursing.

LaGatta believed that the people she, Kelleher and Ramsammy met with were largely interested in education in the United States.

“Although they have universities there, they feel that [in] our school and many other schools the technology is so much more advanced and they want to bring that back to [their] business and industry,” she said.

Dennis Kennedy, executive director of communications and marketing, was involved in the coordination of the trip.

“Many students and schools were seeking programs that lead to job skills and a more trained workforce, as well as online learning opportunities where individuals don’t have to leave their home country but could receive a U.S. education that’s online or streamed,” he said.

According to Kennedy, there is a possibility that interactive television courses could be expanded internationally. “A faculty member would be here in the U.S. or on campus and the lecture and the instruction would be streamed via video to a classroom at a remote location,” he explained.

Hudson Valley Community College is currently working on an international student fund to help students pay for their education.

“We’re focused on expanding scholarship programs for international students as we explore new student recruitment and enrollment opportunities with international countries,” Kennedy said.

“We’d like to have something to help support [the students in Trinidad], as we do with our students [at Hudson Valley Community College],” LaGatta added.

Ramsammy equally felt that the trip was a success.

“Overall, the trip was highly productive, with short and long-term plans moving forward,” he said. “Already, the college has received an invitation from Ambassador Mondello for Hudson Valley Admissions counselors to return for the Embassy-sponsored College Fair on October 12-13, 2019.” The College Fair is attended by six thousand parents and students over two days.

“In addition, Hudson Valley is one of only three community colleges that plan to be at the event, and possibly the only American institution to be invited,” Ramsammy said.

The opportunity is fairly unique, Ramsammy added, because Trinidad and Tobago schools generally partner with colleges in the United Kingdom and Canada only.

Besides the Trinidad trip, Hudson Valley Community College boasts a history of international recruitment in order to attract more students and diversify the campus.

“A couple years ago we had trips to China, we’ve had trips to Vietnam, and more recently the college was invited to visit Trinidad,” Kennedy said. “I think it adds some global perspective to the discussions that are taking place in your classes, and the diversity of our student body, as well as our employee population,” he said. “It’s certainly very important to us.”

Most recently, President Ramsammy was invited to speak at a luncheon at the United Nations in New York City next month for the Caribbean and Central American ambassadors to discuss the college’s programs.