Graduates from universities in Cuba returned home during the summer of 2010, having chalked up academic success in the Republic of Cuba.{{more}}

Drs. Melissa Ince and Canesha Browne graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University Of Holguin School of Medicine along with Dr. Acousa Cupid, while Dr. Lisa Marie Francis received her diploma from the Santiago de Cuba School of Medicine.

This year’s graduates also included Donnie De Frietas Jnr. in Telecommunications, who has followed the example of his father, graduating 24 years later from the same City University Jose Antonio Echevarria (CUJAE); Judith Sayers in Pharmacology, Sharlene Jeffers, Economics, and Shakiesha James and Broderick Francis who took diplomas in Informatics. Dr. Martica Glasgow was the lone veterinarian this year from the Higher Institute of Agricultural Sciences of Havana (ISCAH), which has provided most of the vets currently in the employ of the Ministry of Agriculture. The lone Mechanical Engineer was Randy Dublin from the University of Oriente in Santiago de Cuba.

The intake of students to Cuban universities has diminished, with scholarships being offered this year in medicine and Sports. The new batch of six medical and four sport students from St. Vincent and the Grenadines are now fully integrated into the student community and participated at this year’s 31st Anniversary of Independence Celebrations in Havana organized by the Embassy of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in Havana.

There are currently 115 Vincentian students currently pursuing tertiary level studies across Cuba, continuing a trend which began in 1980, with the attendent contribution of the Government and People of the Republic of Cuba to the human resource development of St. Vincent and the Grenadines free of cost to the students.

The first 65 bilingual Vincentian nurses to graduate with diplomas from the Republic of Cuba are set to return to Cuba in November to continue their studies toward degree level after graduating in July this year.