Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has stated that his government is not ruling out the option of terminating their relationship with a new medical school which is intended to replace Ross University in Portsmouth.
In 2019, Ross University departed Dominica for Barbados after 40 years and took with it, a significant chunk of the island’s GDP.
In a recent announcement, the Dominica University & School of Medicine (DUSM) revealed that it had commenced classes for the Doctor of Medicine (M.D) degree on November 25, 2020.
The University also mentioned plans for the earlier commencement of face to face, on the island but said that classes had to be postponed due to health and safety considerations and the consequent restrictions on international travel brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As is the case with all the international offshore medical schools operating in the Caribbean, classes are being conducted temporarily online. The management of the university is closely monitoring the progress being made regionally and internationally in bringing the pandemic under control, and is hopeful for a turnaround by January 2021, allowing students to begin joining the school on island,” the University disclosed.
Professor Stanley White, Founding Dean of DUSM said, “It is very satisfying to see the efforts of our teams working internationally to secure this first cohort of students, and to facilitate them starting their journey to becoming a physician. The whole campus team is excited and is very much looking forward to welcoming our students to Dominica in January”.
Dr. White said the campus is gearing up to welcome the first cohort of external students as soon as it becomes feasible to do so.
“Our campus operations, housekeeping and security teams have been very busy rehabilitating key areas of the campus required to begin classes with students in person,” he explained.
In addition to medicine, the DUSM revealed that it is also offering degree programs in Nursing and Pharmacy. Also included in the university’s development programme, are courses in Forensic Science and Medical Marijuana.
The University said scholarships and discounts are available to Dominican students desirous of pursuing careers in any of the medical disciplines on offer and urged interested persons to apply at the earliest.
However, contrary to this announcement, Prime Minister Skerrit said on the most recent edition of his Sunday talk show that the government has had “some issues” with the investor in terms of the approach that has been taken in the past.
“…I have raised those concerns with him and his company. I am not quite satisfied that they have addressed those concerns even if they have started classes online. So I am not ruling out as I’ve said before…the government terminating its relationship with this group,” Skerrit remarked.
According to the Prime Minister, his government is currently in discussions with another group as they have given DUSM a timeline to address their concerns.
“We have seen some progress on their part but not to the extent that the government would wish and of course we gave them some leeway because we understand that all schools have been affected by COVID-19,” Skerrit stated.
He added, “So there have been certain challenges in terms of their movement towards the realization of certain targets but I still believe that they could have done a bit more in some other areas that are critical to the setting up of the medical school.”
The Prime Minister said his Cabinet will make a decision on this sooner rather than later and provide an opportunity for the second group to demonstrate its capacity and ability of the establishment of a school in Portsmouth.
The best option would be to partner with an American or Canadian university that may be interested in establishing a foreign branch or campus in Dominica. Instead of Caribbean folks travelling to the U.S. and paying out-of-state tuition, this campus would serve to recruit and enroll Caribbean students who would otherwise enroll at Universities outside the Caribbean. It would also provide an opportunity to host exchange students from the main campus in the U.S./Canada or from other universities interested in attending this university in the Caribbean. Major disciplines would include fields such as medicine, marine biology, international business, political science, information technology, botany, agriculture, and other areas that may present a unique learning experience. I know it would take some work, but it is possible. Dominica would need to provide major incentives such as land/building concessions, tax holidays, etc etc.
Don’t count on this school getting off the ground any time soon.
Hugo chavez build an abbatoire in layou park for this greedy arrogant visionless prime minister and its now several months several young employee’s cannot get paid…mr p.m .minister of finance roosebelt or roosevelt skerrit please pay the abbatoire employee’s ..thats not kool out..the young employees worked hard..pay dem.paydem paya yo..empty bag
Sorry Dominica but you get what you voted for! If I am to expose the folly in this Prime Minister’s utterances, it will require and entire thesis! There is so much wrong in the Prime Minister’s statement, that I am really in shock! What if prospective students and their families become aware of this statement? A Google search of the university’s name by anyone anywhere in the world doing basic desktop research will come across this statement by the Prime Minister!
Would you pay thousands of US dollars for your child to attend a Medical University in the Caribbean where the Head of State of the island where the university is situated, and who are investors in said university, are advising you that the university is failing before it even get started?
I am so embarrassed internationally to have these people as the Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica! Proper idiots running and representing the country!
Looks like in their haste to replace Ross they have faltered again. Where are the Malaysian, Chinese and / or Indian Medical schools that were ready and waiting to go. Skerrit, Austrie, Ian and their acolytes it is alleged were pounding that idea into the heads of the Possie people before elections. That DUMS nonsense speaks for itself just by name.
Hell will start freezing over before Possie and Dca by extension realize anything close to Ross in terms of economic development brought to the our shores by any medical group. Until Roosevelt and his Buch of acolytes and KICKED out of office by any means necessary this country SHALL go nowhere and Possie people will have to carry a LOT of the blame. The have to break that Mouton Batalie mentality so the rest of the country can follow. If posse people start some serious demonstration today, its over for Skerro and his gang. PERIOD!
Mr. Skerrit’s statements have added doubt and skepticism to the viability of this ghost university.
I would not allow even my dog to spend a day at this mysterious, untested institution already riddled with controversies.
All this vagueness!!! The guy said a whole lot of nothing.
Simply put: This is a repeat of the attitude of ROSS towards refusal to address their concerns, especially when they requested a ‘summit’ with the boss who instead had them meet with a subordinate ………….., a move that screwed it up for us all. So, they gravitated towards Barbados that has…a bias for getting things done.
government that paying Stanley white and have big contract with him. If they break their contract big money to pay.
Mr. white was a Dean at Ross before government gave him this contract to run the university.
Right now I am trying to wonder what is going. Mr. PM can you tell us?
Stanley White was with Ross before he became Dean of this new outfit. He is an alumni from Manchester University in the UK and thought he could get his new Dominica university accredited in the U.K. This did not happen. The U.K. authorities believe this is a passport selling scam and don’t trust it.
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive.”
He (Skerrit) promised Dominicans and quick and better replacement for ROSS University, but, as usual, can’t deliver. Overpromise, under delivers every time.
Mr. Skerrit has defaced the office of the prime minister with lies and verbal graffiti.
Why do they keep naming things ‘Dominica’ when the correct term is ‘Dominican’ or ‘Dominica’s’? Dominica University, Dominica-China etc make no sense. It should only be ‘Dominica’ if it’s at the end, e.g The University of Dominica. Dominica NATIONAL Hospital for example (or Dominica-China as they call it
) would make sense, but Dominica alone doesn’t.
Petter St Jean said it best Skerrit is a Jack… he is bankrupt and corrupt he lacks vision and inept. (People you can’t get blood out of stone.)
Only Skerro and his cronies know what’s best for Dominica. You allowed Ross to depart after decades of service, not to mention a substantial percentage of the island’s GDP and now, “Look how we come.” Years after his passing, Spider’s Calypso still reigns true today.
So Skerritt told us the airport is on life support because China will not finance it and we must use CBI funds; and DUSM is teetering and may have the plugged pulled on it. Skerritt’s administration is a serial enterprise killer, having killed RUSM and the number of businesses that have exited the Dominican landscape during its tenure.
The Ponzi University is falling apart as expected……This guy Skerrit really starting to swallow his own RED DRINK.
Let me hear the Portsmouth people!!!!…..” Better to be RED than DEAD”
Everything under this PM is a gross failure….we are in plenty TROUBLE!!!
Roosevelt Skerrit if you were not an ignorant self centered corrupted crook; rather than you concentrating on self; you would have concentrated on what was necessary in the country, such as what was required to keep Ross University in the country!
“An International Airport.”
There is no point of you running off your corrupted mouth about Ross left after forty (40) years; it is because of your incompetence they left.
This thing; you can call it anything you wish, even Roosevelt University School of Medicine to fool the idiots who gallivant behind you into thinking Ross University is back; is a joke doomed to failure!
Think in terms of origination of students, from where are you going to recruit them?Ross University was successful because they are able to recruit students from America, and elsewhere, and because it is an American University with affiliates in America recognizing their curriculum which is the same as taught in the United States.
Which nation on earth is going…
Which nation on earth is going to recognized a medical degree out of Roosevelt University; for your information Roosevelt, in America, I only know of one State which accepts some not all degrees earned from the University West Indies.
Perhaps your Dominica degrees will be accepted by your Punjab University in India.
Even if everybody in Dominica, old and young enroll in Roosevelt University, it will fail, as a matter of fact it is fake!
As everything else it is fake:
You Roosevelt is unable; handicap, not capable of attracting any significant business in the country; and that is because foreign investors hate corrupted people, they hate corrupted politicians!
You are the only so called prime minister who takes taxpayers money and give it to foreigners to pretend they are building hotels in Dominica.
Your only success is the selling of our passports to criminals!
You know (dem) thieves vagabonds and scamps!
Anyone reading this article is no better off having done so because of Skerrit’s ineloquence and evasiveness. He does the same repeatedly as with the use or misuse of the CBI and Airport Savings Funds.
How can any Dominican expect the country to progress with such an incoherent, conniving, ultra-secretive, nakedly corrupt megalomaniac as their leader? No Way Papa!
You’re absolutely right. I actually hit angry reading this article because it said nothing about what is required to get the university up and running that is not being done by the investors. We should be given full details so we are able to support of PM’ s position or to dismiss it for what it’s worth.
Ah, now I dere wondering how comes DNO ain’t write a report on this latest installment of the Ross replacement saga. Folks, the only thing that can replace Ross University in Picard is Ross University itself.
I am of the persuasion, based on assessment & observation of certain things over time, that the FULL TRUTH behind the relocation of Ross University to Barbados has not yet been told.
Did somebody in Dominica want Ross University to leave Dominica? If so, why? Did somebody in Barbados want Ross University to come to them as a result?
Is it mere coincidence that some of the same regional ‘actor(s)’ who are appearing in Dominica under certain disguises are the very same player(s) benefiting from Ross in Barbados?
Is it mere coincidence that some of the same economic, political & communication advisors of the Mia Mottley government are the same advisors of the Roosevelt Skerrit ‘government’? Two-head hydra politics?
Coincidence? Yeah right.
Stay tuned…
The reason Ross left Dominica, is because they tolerated our backwardness for too long; hence they got tired and left for a more developed island where the convenience of direct international flights into and out of Barbados is unlimited.
Shallow people like Roosevelt believe that Ross was obligated to tolerate our backwardness forever, because they loved Dominica so much that they had no alternative!
Meanwhile the students and faculties should suffer the inconvenience in coming to Dominica; by traveling to Antigua, and get victimized; ripped of in Antigua where it was mandatory for them to pay a special transit fee before they get aboard LIAT to travel to Dominica.
I traveled the world via air, and sea, never have I paid a transit fee unless I remained in the country over five days.
We Dominicans are the most ignorant people politically on the planet; the Labor Party has been screwing up Dominica for almost a hundred years it took a turn for the worst under Roosevelt…
I am from Portsmouth and feel sorry for the POTO LAUORAT
people of Portsmouth. They are being taken for a ride all the way to their graves with hopes of seeing another medical school replace RUSM – Ross University School of Medicine.
I still trying to understand who the new operators of the school are because when you pass by the former RUSM you seeing three different new names. My question is which one is it?
1. Dominica University & School of Medicine (DU & SM)? OR
2.Dominica University of Medical Sciences (D u med. S)?
( NOTE: I guess the scared to say DUMS because it might break the spell Portsmouth people under)
and (3) Dominica University School of Medicine (DUSM)?
Now are the new owners Indians? or former faculty and staff of the RUSM who were not rehired to work with the new RUSM in Barbados.
Honestly I would like to see a new school replace the RUSM which left because they could not take it no more… But if nothing replaces it… it is what it is…
Time will tell. Also with this new low income housing development in Picard, how will this affect the students? I dont know. This has all just been an ugly game. The economy is dying.
In a leadership class a few years ago, one became familiarized with the concept of Bureaucratic Compulsive Syndrome that affects some leaders. It is an obsessive-compulsive personality orientation filled with narcissistic features where leaders tend to act first and think afterwards. Leaders affected by this syndrome are known for their high-handed, meddlesome, poor judgment, unimaginative, close-minded, and micro-management style. But, they tend to have a grandiose sense of self which sometimes lead to them referring to themselves in the third person. Every deal or contract these leaders sign must have something in it for themselves or their cronies. If not, they will attempt to overturn it. It’s all about Me! Me! Me. Go figure!
Skerrit can’t even explain what are de real issues….de man making story again.
Skerrit is de same person who said that universities were fighting to replace Ross…… perhaps they doh have enuff ranks!
De university not a cash cow and it not boosting his image.
You too boastah
Your handlers will instruct you on how with to deal with dat!
The only people I see registered in Dominica at the old Ross place in Picard, Portsmouth is Dominica University of Medical Sciences not as a medical school but as a government approved CBI agent, tel. 445-6000……………..
Skerro, I tell you that every time you open your mouth, I am the happiest person. Thanks for obliging
👹😝🤔😹🤣.
When you kicked out Ross, your statement was that there were at least FOUR schools impatiently waiting to set up shop. You had discussions with this one and,I presume, issued them a licence to operate. What were they to do and within which timeframe?
Again, you are not being transparent with the populace. Not even ONE YEAR after the license, you express dissatisfaction and are unable to tell us SPECIFICALLY what you are dissatisfied about. You use general terms like “some concerns”, “some issues”, etc.
What are they? Are they related to QUALITY, ACCREDITATION, MONEY, WHAT?? Or probably it’s not our business??
And you still have not ACCOUNTED for the 1.2, now 3.8 BILLION DOLLARS MISSING FROM THE CBI.
But of course your days in office are numbered. Get a good lawyer! CANT HEAR, WILL Sayings of the elders.
HOTEP!
I think he said he’s dissatisfied with this group because there’s another group in waiting. You’re right, he didn’t say what his dissatisfaction is about. My opinion, the other group might be coming from “China.” Hmm, that school will probably be named ‘The Chinese Friendship School of Medicine.” Pretty soon Dominica will be re-named ‘Dom-China’.
So how is that school going to recruit students if there is an axe hanging over their heads. I would not pay to have my child enrolled in that school until there was assurance given by the government that the future of the school was secure.
Furthermore, if I intended to practice outside the region, I would not attend a school called Dominica University School of Medicine. These people need to talk to a branding expert. Who outside the region could point to Dominica on a map. They would be better off to use a more generic name that people would associate with a school from a developed country.
Beware of the double doctor walking around posing as a real doctor MD. Better check credentials before they work on you, anyone can buy a piece of paper saying MD and hang it on their wall in their “Office”. Fake doctors have been caught in the past with no credentials separating fools from their money.
Aye peopel let’s gather up on the streets and riot until that blasted waste of time kakar government leave office.. then jail them bastards once and for all
Is anyone surprised as to the utter turmoil and opacity that is happening with this new ‘institution of higher learning’?
Mr. Skerrit always lack specificity in his pronouncements. Why can’t he state specifically what are the concerns the government has with the new institution? No surprise here as this regime is a nocturnal one, it operates under the cover of darkness. It should be referred to as The Midnight Regime.
The Skerrit DLP led administration is completely bankrupt of innovative and practical ideas . Dominica needs new blood with fresh ideas to turn around the present southward bound trajectory of the country.
Only with the collective will of all patriotic Dominicans would DLP’s stranglehold on the country be broken.
Would it be more sensible and appropriate for the double doctor pm to discuss his issues with his legal team as opposed to exposing the under belly of the Dominican people to a law suit that we may not be able to repay.
In his wisdom he has vulgarly suggested his desire to withdraw from a contract based on his belief that things are not going according to his plans. May I suggest to him that he desist from such inane utterances and protect my Dominican folks from law suits.
Oh boy, here we go again with small country mentality by the double doctorate dude. This dictatorial tendency by a guy who doesn’t have a real university degree, interfering with the day to day operation of an education institution or other business enterprise, is what is to be expected from a guy who acts like he is the government of Dominica. Skerritt has to be the one to make decisions and speak on every important thing happening in the country. For crying out loud, why doesn’t he give the new entity time to operate and identify the areas where they can improve. Had his government done it’s due diligence properly we wouldn’t be there at the beginning of this new DUSM. I’m sure RUSM had teething problems as well, but was given room to grow and learn from mistakes. With this pressure mentality of Skerritt it sounds like desperation, when one considers that there is the worldwide pandemic in full force. His first few terms as leader he killed the productive sector.
Skerrit, Ross didn’t leave because THEY wanted to. The truth of the matter is a different one, they left because YOU more or less chased them out of the country. They kept on asking for meeting and you could not be bothered to spare any of your precious time to meet the biggest employer on the island. I would even go as far and say that you wanted them out because you want Dominicans to be dependent on YOU. I knew all along that you would never ever find a replacement for Ross, even though you desperately tried to bs us in saying this one is coming that one is coming and we signed an agreement with another one. May I ask where they all are??
“Some Issues”, “Certain Challenges”, “Some Concerns”, “Some Progress”..What is Skerrit referring to nuh?..Did the people not pay the Ransom money?
Skerrit needs to speak clearly to the people of Dominica. The country’s Business is not his Private Enterprise.
Speaking in superlatives sometimes achieve the opposite and raises more suspicion. SMH. Hope what ever it is can be Ironed out quickly enough to have the infrastructure in use again. The country will benefit from having any School or Operation back at that site in Portsmouth.