Opportunities for professional and educational collaboration took center stage recently during a visit from a St. Lucia Ministry of Education delegation to Florida Polytechnic University.
“We are interested in articulation agreements and securing full and part-time scholarships for our students where we’re obligated to provide very high-quality students who we know will become great ambassadors to your institution while they do St. Lucia proud,” said Dr. Gayle Rigobert, minister of education for the island nation of St. Lucia.
Rigobert said she was impressed by the robust programs, professional education, and facilities available at the University.
“What I have seen at Florida Poly has really inspired and excited me because I know that our students want to go somewhere they can be immersed in a family setting and not be too overwhelmed by a very large university,” she said.
In addition to creating pathways for young scholars, Florida Poly and the delegation discussed other opportunities to work together, such as conducting research to find uses and remedies for the deluge of sargassum seaweed that has invaded the Caribbean nation’s coastline.
They also considered implementing executive leadership programs, such as the Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, Results (SOAR) tool to help improve strategic planning. This collaboration could begin as soon as 2020.
“If we can develop some great partnerships, there’s no telling how far we can go,” Rigobert said.
The delegation’s visit included a tour of the campus and presentations by faculty and staff members, including Dr. Jim Mennie, assistant professor of business analytics and business director at Florida Poly’s Florida Industrial Phosphate Research Institute; Dr. Kathryn Miller, vice provost of student affairs; Dr. Ben Matthew Corpus, associate vice provost for enrollment management; and Mustapha Achoubane, associate director of international studies.
“It is a strong priority to have a diverse campus and we welcome people from all different backgrounds and experiences to Florida Poly,” Miller said. “We have a strong international population and students from different countries are leaders on campus.”
As the group discussed international collaboration, Corpus said the University is interested in offering a full scholarship to a St. Lucian student who meets Florida Poly’s rigorous admissions standards for the fall 2020 semester.
“We’re all very excited about this connection,” Corpus said. “These partnerships are very important to Florida Poly as international students contribute so much to the excellence of our institution.”
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