The Caricom Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ) has launched 5 e-learning courses, with a view to engaging more with academia to bring quality infrastructure education to youth and young professionals.
Speaking at the recent online launch of the Quality for Organisational Effectiveness and Sustainability (QOES) eLearning Programme, CROSQ CEO, Deryck Omar, said: “If quality infrastructure is to attract the kind of skilled and dedicated professionals that are necessary for the future success of our small island developing states, then it must include partnerships with academia. It must start with an understanding of how the pure and applied sciences, and even the social sciences, taught in our secondary and tertiary institutions can also direct graduates into the specialised field of Quality Infrastructure.”
Noting that CROSQ was on a path to developing active and fruitful partnerships with academia in coming years, Omar noted that the institution was also marketing quality infrastructure as a career development path for youth.
CROSQ’s QOES Programme Leader and Technical Officer, Quality Promotions, Latoya Burnham noted that under the 11th European Development Fund Technical Barriers to Trade Project, the 5 free courses were geared mainly toward entry-level professionals in quality-related institutions.
She said the courses developed by technical officers of the CROSQ Secretariat and from across the region include: Introduction to Quality Infrastructure, Standards Development — Essentials, Fundamentals of Metrology, Auditing for Quality Effectiveness, and, Quality Infrastructure: Marketing Communications.
Programme Manager with the European Union Delegation to Barbados, Eastern Caribbean States, the OECS and Caricom/CARIFORUM, Sheldon Jackman praised CROSQ and its partners on the EU-funded initiative.
“The development of these training courses comes in response to recognised growth in demand by firms and other stakeholders in their use of quality systems to meet local, regional and international market requirements,” Jackman said.
He added: “Professionals in firms and staff of standard bodies who complete this course of study, will benefit from enhanced tools and best practices, in the respective areas of QI and close any knowledge gaps that may exist. This training supports the overall objective of the TBT programme by increasing the use of internationally-recognised Quality Infrastructure by the regional and national quality institutions and by the private sector.”
Committing support to combatting technical barriers to trade in the region, the EU Delegation representative praised the 11th EDF-TBT Project managers, the German National Metrology Institute (PTB), as well as implementers CROSQ and the Dominican Republic’s Institute for Quality (INDOCAL), on the launch of the training programme.
PTB Project Coordinator, Dr Sabine Greiner said the courses would assist in building knowledge of quality infrastructure amongst individuals who are interested in entering the quality infrastructure field, as well as continuing education for existing professionals in the region.
The first offering of the QOES programme ends in May 2024. Courses can be found at https://elearning.crosq.org.
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