 The future is ever-changing, communities, jobs and economies are continually being transformed. This is why we need incredible minds to connect problems of innovative solutions, to disrupt and create new industries, to enable businesses to think sustainably, to shift evidence-based leaders and the next generation of visionaries. SALCC helps you to shape your career. Your passion is calling. Your future is standing by. Tapping to your potential, virtual and on-site classes, dedicated faculty, diverse student experiences and highly-recognized programs, Sir Arthur Lewis Community College, apply today and fast-track your career. Hello everyone and welcome to SALCC updates where we report on the activities and events at the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College. My name is Natalie Julie Fannes, Senior Communications Officer at the College and it's a pleasure to be here with you once again. This is the first in our series of interviews that we are going to conduct here on the National Television Network and we are very happy that you can join us today. I do have a guest that we will be joining later but just before we do that, let me just give you some news about the college, our updates. So we resumed the academic year on September 6th with classes being held online. With the surge in cases, we were not yet able to do our practicals. But since then, we have been able to resume those very needed hands-on experiential learning for our students, especially those in the hospitality, in our health sciences, in engineering and in pure sciences. So the labs and practicals have resumed and they are being scheduled by the lecturers so students just need to be informed. I know a few parents have called and asked. All necessary protocols are in place and we have received approval from the Ministry of Health to be able to conduct our much needed practicals. We are also very happy to report that we are fast-tracking our activities with our students. Last year, 2020, when we had to move online, that was our greatest focus, the academics, but we understand the importance of the holistic development of our students. And therefore our recently formed student experience unit has been on a fast track to get our students active. And we began at the end of September with a clubs and sports fair where our students were exposed to all of the clubs that existed on the campus prior to the onset of the pandemic and even new ones that are being formed. So they're signing up and we are still in the virtual realm, but wherever we can facilitate face-to-face activities, the clubs will be doing so. So we want to encourage all of our students, if you are watching, to just get on to the website. The sign-up sheets are still there for you to become part of a club that is so important. There are service clubs, there are clubs in their area of specializations and there are interest clubs as well. So a lot happening there. In addition, our counseling unit has also been very active. They recognize suicide prevention day. Only Sunday was the observance of mental health day and there was a webinar for the students to participate in for our entire college community as well. In addition, they will also be hosting university prep sessions as well as exam prep sessions. So all of that information you can find on our social media pages. So whether you are a student or you're just a member of the public interested in the activities of the college, we want to encourage you to follow our social media pages because there is always a lot of information on there, as well as our website, salcc.edu.lc. We are now in the very culturally active month, Moire-Héritage-Cueil, that we, and I love that there's madras behind me as I speak. Because again, the college will not be left behind where that is concerned and we are in the throes of organizing a talent expose for our college community. Primarily we have participants from our students, student community, but also we have engaged our alumni and we also have a few staff members who will be part of that. And we will be telling you more about that later in the month. But it will be a virtual showcase that you can participate in or that you can view in the areas of dossier, chaote, poetry. I have to bring in the English and the Cueil here. Even traditional games, there's a focus on our choice of guests who brought music to our schools. So definitely we are moving full steam ahead with engaging our students, keeping their minds occupied, giving them diversions that will help with their mental wellness and we are on board with that. So Moire-Héritage-Cueil, we will be featuring later in the month all of the activities and the date on which we will showcase our virtual talent expose. So back to our academics, we do have some good news coming in for the new semester. Again, the pandemic has turned things around for quite a few organizations. As you would know, CXC results are still pending. I think they should be out this week and the college adapted as we needed to in order to facilitate our intake of students for the 2021-2022 academic year. So in lieu of the CXC results, we did have our own entrance exam and we also used the results of our students in their fourth and fifth form years from their transcripts in order to facilitate their matriculation into the college. So we are speaking academics and the best person to speak about that of course is the registrar of the college. And we do have a new registrar that I will introduce to you today but before we do so, I really want to celebrate and recognize our recently retired registrar of almost 30 years at the South Alois Community College. Ms. Beverly Josie served with distinction at the college, at the helm. You know, the registry office and I'll let our new registrar tell me. It's like the brain. All the cerebral processes of the academics goes through that unit and there are several key responsibilities that they have, including Ms. Josie served as the secretary to the board of governors for 20-something of those 30 years while she served at the college. So we really want to say thanks to Ms. Josie. She was celebrated in the summer upon her retirement, but we still want to wish her well and thank her for her service to the college. And on that note, it is my pleasure now to introduce to you the person who has replaced her. He worked with us as assistant registrar for a number of years and he was quite the person to fit into the shoes of Ms. Beverly Josie, having worked with her for a number of years. So it's my pleasure to introduce today Mr. Ian Menville, who is registrar of SALCC. Welcome Ian and thank you so much for joining me this afternoon. Thank you, Natalie. I'm happy to be here. Great. So I just referenced Ms. Josie, who was registrar for almost 30 years. And you worked with her for a number of years before assuming this year. Well, just a little bit about your interaction with Ms. Josie. I joined the college in August of 2012 and as the assistant registrar, so I worked directly with Ms. Josie for about eight years before her retirement. And I've learned a lot from her. I'm a very instrumental person in the terms of the decisions or the way she made some of the decisions that she had to make academically and looking at the college and not putting the college in any compromising position. But as we're looking at the students and their academic success as well. So I have learned a lot from her over the years and my intention is to continue along that path to bring the college into a high standing, wherever it has been itself or lowest has been mentioned. Great. It's good to know that. And I think you've been at the college through some transitions. You were out for about a year. But you left, I think, with us having divisions and you returned to us having departments and having to make some changes that are necessary. So just share with us as incoming registrar some of your thoughts and maybe the new responsibilities and when you see the college in the near future. Well, the transition not occurred. I left the college and I took a leave of absence. From the college in 2020, August of 2020 to take up an opportunity with the OECS commission for a year subsequent to which I came, I returned to the college. And yes, like you said, there was a bit of a number of changes that occurred during that year I was out. And but I imagine they wouldn't necessarily to because of the new programs that are being offered. We have new programs based on the climate change a lot of entrepreneurial programs, digital-aged tailored programs and which was very different from what was being offered to students in the past. So I imagine that thrust, that thrust looking at the future was very necessary at the time. And with the new incoming principle that he actually had some type of focus looking at the future in hand. So it's hopefully with those new changes that brings the offer really into the future looking at the next 20 years down the road. So it was those changes were very necessary and very timely. I'm very sad. Great. Speak to us, Mr. Benville, about some of your responsibilities as registrar, not should people understand the work that we're doing to you. Well, as the registrar of an institution like South of Lois, we basically deal with a lot of aspects of student life within the college. From the time they apply as an applicant into the college to the time they become students, responsible for doing the scheduling of faculty and students. Up until the time the students leave as they graduate the college or they become alumni of the South of Lois coming to college, we have a role to play in all of those processes. And so whereas sitting departments they would have, I would say down times the registries at the unit, this office of the registrar is busy throughout the entire year. Hard to take vacation. Very, very difficult, yes. Okay. So at the beginning of my introduction, I spoke to what let's we need to take a break. I can't really believe that time has gone so quickly. So we will get to the academic adjustment. Please stay with us. My guest today is Mr. Benville. Stay with us for SALCC updates. We'll be right back. In an effort to ensure patient and first responder safety, the St. Lucia Fire Service has reviewed its patient transfer procedures, especially for patients with respiratory distress. Face masks will be provided. At no time during transportation should the face mask be removed. Please be patient and cooperative during this time to ensure you receive the best possible care while keeping our first responders safe. Thank you for staying with us. Welcome back to SALCC updates. My name is Natalie Julie Fannes, reporting on the activities and events of the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College. And with me today in studio is Mr. Ian Minville, who is the registrar of the college. And we were just talking about his experience as the new registrar. And I wanted to ask him about the September intake. If you could speak to, I alluded to earlier that we used a different mechanism for students to gain entry into the college. So just tell us what the response to that has been and what our own plan is for the students. Well, ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, we've had to work a lot closer with our secondary schools because you'd appreciate that we get most of our incoming applicants from the secondary schools. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic, it became a little necessary, again, for us to work directly with and close it with the secondary schools, mainly because the school leaving exam, the CSEC exams that the students would normally undertake got postponed a little, got pushed back a little. And with our academic year, it would usually start in August of every calendar year, every year. The CSEC results would not have been forthcoming when we were doing the processing of those applicants. So it was necessary, like you indicated earlier, to work with the secondary schools and to get the students transcripts from the work they would have done in form four and form five in order to make an assessment of the entry into the various programs offered by the college. So that was, again, a little bit different for us and it allowed us to continue within the determined timelines that we had to work with every academic year. However, this did not have a trust impact on our intake. So we were able to facilitate the incoming students based on the transcripts from the secondary school. We did introduce an entrance exam that we also assessed in math and English areas and based on those requirements, we accepted students for our various programs. We had an intake, we had an applicant pool of, I believe, about 1,309 students applying for entry this academic year. We've accepted a little, I think, just above 800 students into the various programs offered at the college. Okay, great. So for, I know there was a lot of uncertainty as well, not just for entry into the academic year, but even allowing students from certain secondary schools to write the entrance exam. And I know that there were schools that delayed students writing the exams. Did that have an impact on the numbers at all? In terms of, if we have a criteria that has not been met, it would automatically have an impact on a number of persons that are, well, one applied to the college and are too eligible to enter the various programs. So it would definitely have an impact on the numbers, on our numbers in the end. Okay. So I know there's a plan for students who did opt because students did have the option of still using their CXC results. Right. What is the college doing to facilitate those other students who probably did not qualify initially and also those who wanted to wait for their CXC results? So the goal is to always encourage the students to actually do our entrance exam because it facilitates, again, them starting their education a lot sooner. However, if they opted to wait for CXC results, I believe right now CXC results is expected out this week. It is very incorrect. So once we get those results, we have a record of anybody who's applied for entry into August, but they did not write our entrance exam. Once we get those CXC results, we process those applicants, just like we would previously, and then we would give those students an acceptance, a response to the application. So everybody who applied to the college would definitely get a response indicating whether they've made the requirements for the program or not. So once CXC comes along, we get those results and we respond to those students. The expectation is that those students would begin their academic study in January of next year, given that this semester we're right now, we're halfway through the first semester at the college. Also, there would be, I wouldn't say much of a delay for those students, they would just be ending properly the program a semester later than they would have if they started in August of this year. Okay, so within the two-year period? Yes, so they would definitely be completing if they're on track with everything in two years, but you'd appreciate persons who started in August would finish one semester before them. Right, so does that mean that the college would now utilize the summer period for instruction? Yes, the summer period is definitely a semester that can be used to allow those students to, I don't want to say catch up because they're not really catching up, but they would finish sooner than they would have if they did not participate in the summer period. Yes. Okay, great. So traditionally the college, the college's main intakes would be in the August-September period. Yes, definitely. And I know our south campus would normally have a January intake, but that's not the case for the rest of the college. But I understand. That's correct. We are doing it differently this year. So this year we're facilitating again persons who may not have written our entrance exams. However, you should note that not all programs will be offered in January. You would appreciate that the college would have to do some assessment in terms of the numbers coming in January. For example, we usually do not run programs if we have an intake of less than 10. So it's not effective to run a program if we have only three students. It doesn't make any viable sense for the college. In most cases, however, there are in situations where even with low numbers, we would choose we would opt to run a program. So it's not a guarantee, but in which whatever response we communicate, whatever response we give to the issue to the students, we would indicate to them what the situation is with their particular program of study. Okay, so just let me make sure we're clarifying. So there are two processes happening. Students who applied for the September period and who may not have qualified based on our entrance exam, we are going to look at the CXU results. Yes, that's one intake. But we are also opening applications for persons to apply fresh into college for a January period in selected programs. In selected programs, that's correct. That's correct. Great. So this is a second opportunity then that we are giving people who may not have been ready in September for whatever reason or who may not have thought of it, that the college is again trying to meet the needs of the society and will facilitate applications in a January period. That's right, that's right. That is good for some people who may have missed the vote a bit in September. But things happen at different times for different individuals. So applications are open for selected programs to the college. And if you visit our website, then you'll be able to find out exactly what programs are being open for our January period. So that is definitely good news from the registry. I know that's additional work for you. Yes. Academic units. But we do what we should to serve the students of the college, the applicants of the college, yes. All right, great. Okay, so that's our big news and it is big news because we had not done it in the past. So just a little bit more, Mr. Minville. I know too that your office is also involved in the planning of graduation 2021. So again, can you speak a little bit to your role in that process? Within the office of the registrar, we are the ones responsible for letting the students know whether they've met the graduating requirements of the specific respective programs. So an audit or a scholar degree audit would have to be done for every single student of the college. And we use the academic units to verify this information is actually correct. And once you get that verification, we write to the student to let them know. And congratulations. You've met the graduating requirements of your respective program and then we give them the graduation schedule, so to speak. Once that is done, I guess they would do whatever is required to facilitate them attending the actual ceremony, the actual graduation ceremony. So, yeah, so we actually audit every single student and let them know if they're missing a course, what course is missing in order for them to, if they don't meet the graduation requirement, this academic year, they may be able to meet it for the next academic year. So is this process happening as- Yes, we've already started. We've already leased with the various academic units. We were waiting just feedback from a few units in order to now write to the students to inform them accordingly. And that should happen before the end of October? It's definitely, definitely. That should happen before the end of this week. Well, great. So, graduates, they haven't graduated, should expect information from the Office of the Registrar. At latest, next week. Okay, excellent. So that is another function of the Registrar's office. Yes, apart from your intake of students, you're also responsible for exit of the students as well. Can you speak to any other services that you offer in your unit? Generally within the Office of the Registrar, we deal with a lot of student-related matters. For example, if persons would like a transcript, the academic transcript, they would make that request through the Office of the Registrar. An academic transcript would usually be required by an employer, for example, or by somebody seeking entry into another university, another local offering university. They would request those transcripts through the Office of the Registrar. And this document includes all courses pursued by that student while at the college. Before you move on, can you just speak to the process for that? I know that is something that is highly requested, just in terms of how individuals are about requesting it. Right now, we have an online platform that is accessible via our website, www.salcc.edu.lc, where students could actually log on and complete the transcript, request the transcript, pay online, and once the payment is made, we get that request, and then we issue the transcripts after that. How long does that process normally take? Usually, transcripts are processed within three to five days. So if persons are required by a certain date, they need to take that into consideration. Our processing time is between three to five days. So within three to five days of you making that request, that transcript would have been processed and issued to whichever organization that you wanted it to be sent to. Okay, great. Right. Additionally, we do student letters. Usually, persons require letters made before tax purposes of a parent or insurance purposes. We issue those letters to students in the event that a student may require a letter given, have not yet received the actual certificate from the college. They would request what is called a letter of completion, and the Office of the Registry issues a letter on the student's behalf, indicating that they may have completed the program. However, the certificate is pending based on approval by the academic board of the college. So that's just a number of the services that we offer, but students usually come to the Office of the Registrar or write to us for a number of issues. For example, if they have registration issues, they have timetabling issues, they are scheduling issues, they have issues if a lecture, whereas a lecture might be absent or any type of issue. Normally, if we can't facilitate or respond to it immediately, we usually direct them to where they need to get that piece of information from. Great, so it seems like you have a lot on your plate, Mr. Mendel. Yeah, definitely, we do. And I expect that you would do a great job. You have the usefulness in you. Ah, thank you so much. We do have a very young and vibrant team as well that we get all that work done through. So it's a team effort always. It's always a team effort, yeah. So as we round off, I just realized we did speak to opening of applications for the January intake, but we didn't speak to the deadline. Yes, the deadline for this January intake is the 30th of October. We need to have a very tight deadline because of all the processing that is required, so it's unfortunate we can't extend it past that, anytime past that. So the deadline, 30th of October 2021, 2021, yes. 2021. Great, for a January 2022 intake. So there you have it. The South Alois Community College is opening applications for the January 2022 in selected programs. This is the first time that we are actually doing that for programs other than those offered in our South Campus. It has been a pleasure being here with you. Again, I want to encourage you to visit our website, www.salcc.edu.lc. Stay on our social media pages as well for information and updates on what is happening at our premier tertiary institution. Thank you so much for staying with us today, and we look forward to seeing you next week to bring you more information. Stay safe, follow the protocols. We can win this war. The future is ever-changing. Communities, jobs, and economies are continually being transformed. This is why we need incredible minds to connect problems of innovative solutions to disrupt and create new industries, to enable businesses to think sustainably, to ship evidence-based leaders and the next generation of visionaries. SALCC helps you to shape your career. Your passion is calling. Your future is standing by. Tap into your potential. Virtual and on-site classes, dedicated faculty, diverse student experiences, and highly recognized programs. So after Lewis Community College, apply today and fast-track your career.