International students could study on island

Wednesday 29 May 2019

The States of Guernsey's University Working Party have met prospective university partners from Slovenia, Canada, Australia and the UK to talk more about setting the island up as an international study location.

The working party including stakeholders and politicians was headed up by Deputy Charles Parkinson, President of the Committee for Economic Development.

In 2018 the Economic Development Strategy was approved which included a work stream approved to explore the possibility of developing a Guernsey based university  in an attempt to diversify the economy. This would mean students travelling to, and living in Guernsey for the entire duration of a degree course. 

Deputy Parkinson said that while it was early on in the planning stages, the committee - which is working alongside Education Sport and Culture, although they did not attend the workshop - would like to see a range of subjects taught. 

"We been discussing whether these will be subjects taught online or in traditional bricks and mortar buildings. We originally talked about having universities twinned with Guernsey but now the idea is to have a consortium of universities represented in one place, it's targeting students from everywhere other than Guernsey, but there will be some spaces for Guernsey students. 

Pictured: Deputy Charles Parkinson. 

"The idea is to bring people from all around the world to Guernsey and then they'll go away with a good impression of our island, some may decide to settle on the island afterwards but that's not the idea. We've talked about what the universities might teach - we're looking at degrees in the  medical technology, financial technology and also we would like to have a centre for arts here as well," he said. 

Associate Dean of the Faculty of Health for Deakin University in Melbourne Australia said that the infrastructure was not yet in place for studying an entire medical degree here, but that students could focus on individual disciplines in the island. 

"Today is about bringing together universities which have shown early interest, we're a really innovative university and I think that's what Guernsey is known for internationally, its innovation. 

"We're all looking at this model which we think hasn't been done before, a long term vision is required before the medical courses are available here, but Occupational Therapy and nursing degrees could present an area of short term gain," he said. 

Pictured: Deakin University in Melbourne, the University also has a European office in Copenhagen.

Dr Greg Finn, Vice President of Brock University, said there were obvious existing links between the island and the university, being named after Guernseyman and British Army Officer Sir Isaac Brock.

"We have a new strategy plan to look at the community in which we operate. It'll be different from an Erasmus plan which is very difficult to get involved in, it will appeal to a student who wants to have an experience and see a bit of the rest of the world," he said.