Higher Education
The higher education sector is under the supervision of the Ministry of Education, and Human Resource Development. The Act No. 15 of 2011 (amended in 2014) established the Grenada National Accreditation Board (GNAB) as the main body responsible for leading the quality assurance of post-secondary and tertiary level institutions and awards.
GNAB is a statutory body, accountable for conducting registration and quality assurance of post-secondary and tertiary level institutions. GNAB is also responsible for providing advice on the accreditation of programmes of study and recognition of local and foreign awards.
Accreditation is compulsory in Grenada. An accredited institution is one that has requested to be evaluated by GNAB and was concluded to be complying with the standards established by GNAB. Institutional Accreditation involves a review of the school’s facilities such as operating budgets and students’ services. Institutions may also proceed for a ‘specialized accreditation’ for specific fields or programs such as medical programmes. Specialized reviews are conducted by private agencies that are knowledgeable about a particular field. Institutional accreditation does not necessarily involve programme accreditation, thus not all programmes at an accredited institution are necessarily reviewed and accredited.
List of Recognised Higher Education Institutions:
A. UNIVERSITIES
• St. George’s University (SGU)
• The Open University of the West Indies (UWI)
B. NON-UNIVERSITY TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS
• T.A. Marryshow Community College
Admission Requirements
Students need to meet the matriculation requirements in order to access higher education programmes. The specific requirements for each programme vary depending on the institution and field of study.
• The minimum entry requirement for the Associate Degree programme is four or five Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) Secondary Education Certificate CSEC/GCE O Levels, and the Bachelor programmes usually require five CSEC passes or an Associate degree in a relevant field.
• The medical programmes offered at St. George’s University (SGU) have more specific entry requirements. The four year Doctor of Medicine (MD) programme requires a Bachelor degree with a science foundation. The longer MD programmes, including the five, six and seven-year programmes, contain the preclinical undergraduate foundation programme prior to starting the advanced medical courses. Students are placed in the first, second or third year of the pre-clinical programme depending on their academic background. Students who complete the pre-clinical programme (with an average grade of 3.2 or above) and pass the Preclinical Science Comprehensive Examination (PCSCE) may advance into the first year of the four-year MD programme.
Institutions’ Overview
The three main higher education institutions operating in Grenada are:
1. St. George’s University (SGU)
2. University of the West Indies (UWI)
3. T.A Marryshow Community College (TAMCC)
T.A. Marryshow Community College (TAMCC)
T.A. Marryshow Community College (TAMCC) is a public community-based institution. The institution was established as a result of the merger of several post-secondary institutions including: the Grenada Technical and Vocational Institute, Grenada Teachers College and Institute for Further Education.
The main Campus of the College is located in Tanteen, St George’s. The College also operates an Agricultural Department at Mirabeau, St. Andrew. A Campus with selective programmes in and a Multi-purpose Center in St. Patrick
It offers a range of full and part-time programmes leading to Certificates, Associate degrees and Bachelor degrees.
The courses are offered in vocational and occupational fields including arts, technology and teacher education. Example of courses include accounting, adult literacy, agriculture, building technology, business studies, computer systems technology, culinary arts, electrical technology, English, nursing assistant, psychology and social work.
The college comprises three (3) schools. The School of Arts, Sciences and Professional Studies (SASPS); The School of Applied Arts and Technology (SAAT); and The School of Continuing Education (SCE).
The duration and entry requirements for Level I and Level II certificates vary depending on the subject. Upon completion of the certificate programme, students may continue on to a Diploma or Associate degree offered at one of the territory institutions.
TAMCC is the main technical and vocational education and training (TVET) provider. Other TVET providers such as New Life Organisation (NEWLO) and private providers mostly offer short term programmes targeted for the labour market in Grenada. All of these courses are supervised and evaluated by the NTA.
Grading system
Generally, two schemes are used: one for Certificate/Associate Degree (AD) areas and another for Competency Based Training (CBT).
Example of GPA Calculation
[table id=14 /]
Credit Attempted = 13
Total Quality Points = 28.00
GPA=TQP divided by TCA = 28/13 = 2.15
Cumulative grade point average
The Cumulative G.P.A. (Cum GPA) is calculated by adding together the Total Quality Points for all courses taken at the College and dividing this total by the sum of the credit values of all the courses attempted. The grade point average does not include hours or quality points transferred from other institutions except as noted earlier under the section on “Transfer Credit”.
The formula for Cumulative Grade Point Average is: (Total QP Semester 1 + Total QP Semester 2 etc.)
Cape associate degree (CXC)
The same grade descriptors for CAPE are used in the assessment of Associate degrees.
A Grade Point Average (GPA) system is used for the assessment of Associate degrees. Grades I to V are equated to grade points as follows:
Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE)
Candidates receive a report for performance on each unit. For each unit, candidates receive both an overall grade (Grade I to VII) to indicate the quality of performance on the unit as a whole; and a module grade (Grades A to G) to reflect performance on each module in the unit.
The grading systems are thus defined as follows:
Overall grades:
[table id=11 /]
The University of the West Indies (UWI) Open Campus
The University of the West Indies Open Campus in Grenada offers part-time programmes leading to Certificates, Diplomas, Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees. Online continuing and professional education, is provided for Grenadians wishing to access higher education. A mixture of distance, blended, online and face-to-face learning modes give students access to learning in various courses. These programmes are accessed online, however components of the course are usually taken at the Open Campus Centre. These include, examinations, as well as, other technology driven forms of instruction. Examples of courses include Bachelor’s degrees in Education, Management, Accounting, Sociology; Master’s degrees in Management (with specialties); and Doctor of Education. There are also several other certificates and diplomas that are awarded. Many of the certificate programmes are taught onsite.
Grading system:
UWI has adopted the GPA system to evaluate students’ performance. The table below illustrates the 2014/2015 grading policy for UWI:
[table id=7 /]
The above converts to the following final degree classifications:
[table id=12 /]
A number of changes have been made to the undergraduate fail grades implemented from 2016/2017 as follows:
i. C is now the minimum pass mark
ii. C-, D+ and D letter grades have been eliminated
iii. Three levels of failures were introduced as letter grades F1, F2 and F3
iv. Letter grades F1 and F2 were assigned quality points of 1.7 and 1.3, respectively
v. The mark percentage range for all grades has been changed
vi. The mark percentage range for three levels of failures for the 2014/2015 Grade Policy were adjusted:
– F1 from 45-49 to 40-49
– F2 from 40-44 to 30-39
– F3 from 0-39 to 0-29.
St. George’s University
St. George’s University (SGU) is a private institution accountable to the government of Grenada. The medical school was established in 1976. The School of Medicine offers a range of medical and health programmes, including the Doctor of Medicine, accredited by CAAM-HP, and Master of Public Health. The university expanded in 1996, establishing the School of Arts and Sciences, and further expanded in 1999 to institute the School of Veterinary Medicine, now accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). There is now also the School of Graduate studies. The Institution currently has approximately 7,900 students enrolled.
SGSOM uses a passing grade of 70% for all courses; and candidates need to obtain a weighted mean percentage of 75%. Students who do not achieve an average of 75% are dismissed at the end of term 2. The core grades are ascertained by the following breakdown: 60% clinical performance, 20% written examination, and 20% oral examination.
The following table demonstrates the grading scale for the St. George’s University School of Arts and Science programme:
[table id=8 /]OTHER TRANSCRIPT NOTATIONS
I (Incomplete)
Students who are unable to complete the semester’s work due to serious mitigating circumstances, such as illness or family emergency may receive an “I” as an interim grade. The Office of the Dean of Students must approve the reason supporting the receipt of the “I” grade.
NOTE: The instructor must file a Change of Grade form upon students’ completion of course requirements within 30 days of the regular subsequent semester or the “I” will be changed to an “F.”
W (Withdrawal)
After the add/drop period has closed, students may withdraw from courses any time up to the point when two-thirds of the semester has been completed and receive a “W.” After this point, students may choose to take a leave of absence, in which case they will receive a “W” in all courses.
AU (Audit)
Students wishing to audit courses must register at the onset as an audit student. For those courses and grades, “AU” will automatically be recorded on the grade rosters.
S/U (Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory)
These grades are to be used only for special courses as stipulated in course descriptions.
CC (Continuing Course)
The CC grade is issued only for courses that extend beyond one semester. The grade will appear on the transcript in the final semester of course participation.
NG (No Grade)
No grade reported by the course director for registered courses.
Qualifications
ASSOCIATE DEGREE
The majority of Associate degree programmes require a minimum of 60 credits. The programmes take two to three years to complete and are offered in the following general areas:
Agriculture and food science
Arts, sciences and humanities
Engineering and technical studies
Health sciences
Teacher education.
BACHELOR DEGREE
The programmes usually take three to four years (two years post-Associate degree) to complete. The entry requirements may vary; however, most Bachelor degree programmes require a minimum of five Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) passes or an Associate degree in the related subject. A minimum of 90 credits is required to complete a three-year Bachelor degree. A dissertation or project may be completed in the final year.
MASTER DEGREE
Master’s degrees are between one to two years in length and usually require a dissertation or research project. Some Master’s degrees from St. George’s University including the Master’s degree in Public Health are accredited by recognized US accreditation boards and can be treated in the same way as US Master’s degrees. St. George’s University has applied to the Grenada National Accreditation Board to have all its courses accredited.
DOCTOR OF MEDICINE
The Doctor of Medicine (MD) at St. George’s University (SGU) takes between four to seven years depending on the type of programme. The pre-clinical curriculum is designed to prepare students for the advanced courses offered later in the four- year MD program. The first two years of the pre-clinical program offer a variety of courses integrating health and social science and introductory courses in anatomy and physiology. The third year of the preclinical programme consists of upper-level biomedical and behavioural science courses. Students who complete the premedical program (with an average of 3.2 or above), and pass the Pre-medical Science Comprehensive Examination (PCSCE) meet the requirements to advance into first year of the ‘basic science phase’ of the four-year MD program. The basic science phase lasts for five terms after which students enter the clinical years. The clinical practice consists of another five terms for a total of 80 weeks.
As a part of the combined MD programs between St. George’s University (SGU) and Northumbria University, students have the option of spending the first year of studies at Northumbria University. Students can also spend the last two years which involves the clinical practice at an affiliated centre in the UK or the US.
DOCTORATE
The Doctorate degree is awarded after two to four years of additional study following a Master’s degree. The candidate has to submit a dissertation which requires an oral defense.
The Grenada National Accreditation Board would like to acknowledge and express its gratitude to all those who helped in the provision and compilation of the information provided. Namely, but not exclusively The Ministry of Education and Human Resources, Measurement and Evaluation unit, The St. George’s University enrollment and planning department, T. A. Marryshow Community College; Office of the Registrar.