The Board and Management of the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of T&T (Costaatt) says despite the rough economic climate in the country, they have not discussed retrenching staff and will be hiring soon.
In a full-page advertisement published in the Sunday Guardian yesterday, Costaatt stated that reports of retrenchment, demise and closure in the media over the past week, have “no basis”.
It noted that since inception, the college has operated with a small full-time staff complement, relative to its student enrolment.
“The question of retrenchment therefore does not arise and in fact, the college will be hiring additional faculty and staff in the coming months,” Costaatt stated.
The institution also denied that it was in the process of contracting its operations which was on the verge of collapse. In fact, the institution stated that it was constantly reviewing and amending its programme offerings to meet the needs of an evolving society.
“We are therefore paying close attention to the key sectors identified for economic diversification and, as we have done in the past, we are reviewing programme offerings to cater for demand in these particular areas. In this context, the introduction of new programs and discontinuation of old programs is a normal phenomenon in academe and ought not to be interpreted as evidence of a crisis.”
Costaatt said it continues to infuse core principles of entrepreneurship throughout its curriculum and operations, which will help them to emerge stronger from the downturn of the economy.
More on Costaatt
In November 2017, Costaatt was awarded institutional re-accreditation by the Accreditation Council of T&T for the maximum period of seven years. This by itself, according to the institution, provided further evidence of the fundamental soundness and anticipated sustainability of the College’s operations.
On January 22, in a T&T Guardian article, Costaatt’s president Dr Gillian Paul said because of ‘funding challenges,” the organisation has had to put on hold plans to hire some critical staff and has to cut back in a number of areas, and is now running a “very, very tight cash flow management operation to sustain operations.”
Paul added that whilst Costaatt also has its own financial challenges, they face the problem of understaffing and had advertised a number of critical positions for hire in 2016.
She also disclosed that the organisation recorded an overall 10-12 per cent decline in enrolment as a direct result of changes to the GATE programme.