The Caribbean Examinations Council has launched its Associate Degree Programmes.

The Council is now offering Associate Degrees in nine areas; Business Studies, Computer Science, Environmental Science, General Studies, Humanities, Mathematics, Modern Languages, Natural Sciences and Technical Studies.{{more}}

Speaking at a Press conference jointly hosted by the Barbados Ministry of Education, Youth Affairs and Sports at the Savannah Hotel on Monday, March 14, CXC Registrar, Dr. Lucy Steward explained how students will qualify. She said that candidates will be required to obtain Grades I to V in a minimum of seven CAPE Units, of which Caribbean Studies and Communications Studies are compulsory Units.

Levels of performance in the Associate Degree Programmes will be indicated by a Grade Point Average system where Grade I is equivalent to a 4.0 GPA and Grade V is equivalent to a 2.0 GPA.

CXC Chairman, Professor Kenneth Hall said the Council agreed at its annual meeting in Antigua last December to award Associate Degrees. “In doing so, it took account of the radical changes that are occurring in the education arena,” he stated.

Professor Hall asserted that the region has to find creative ways of extending access to quality education and the CXC Associate Degree is a direct response to this need.

The CXC Chairman noted that this is an era “where there is a need for portable qualification as graduates are now even less likely to be limited to their national space.”

CXC said that typically, candidates will complete the CXC Associate Degree in two years; however, the programme offers the flexibility for mature and out-of-school candidates to complete the seven Units required for the Associate Degree over a maximum period of five years.

The first CXC Associate Degrees will be awarded in 2006.