Encouraging online education in a traditional institution:: a case study of the University of Technology Jamaica

University of Technology Jamaica (UTech), Kingston, Jamaica, became a university eight years ago and has five Faculties. All its programmes are delivered in a face-to-face modality. UTech is in an environment where it has to compete for customers with other universities both old, new and yet to be born. In order to be able to reach the customers who are not able to come on a traditional campus setting, and to be able to spread its tentacles beyond the Island, it has to make its online education policy a reality. In this paper, the author investigates the views of lecturers on online education and encourages the faculties to get involve and develop online programmes for delivery. The survey, through the use of questionnaire and interview, reveals that the University has the potentials in both a willing workforce and financial assistance to establish its online education, which hits been kept in the cooler for sometime now.