MANDEVILLE, Manchester — The new president of Northern Caribbean University (NCU) Dr Lincoln Edwards has pledged to continue the efforts of his predecessor, Dr Trevor Gardner, to have Mandeville properly established as a “university town”.
The idea gained momentum a few years ago, following the downturn of the bauxite/alumina sector after decades of being the main economic driver in Manchester and the wider south-central Jamaica.
The recent resumption of refining operations at Alpart in neighbouring St Elizabeth has rekindled hope of a revival in the bauxite/alumina industry, but community and business leaders in Mandeville are insisting that efforts to diversify the local economy should continue.
Gardner, immediate past president of the Seventh-day Adventist-run NCU, was one of the proponents of the idea to have Mandeville as a university town, and, according to Edwards, his predecessor’s involvement in that effort will continue.
“Dr Gardner is assisting us with fund-raising ideas and ensuring that Mandeville becomes a university town, an idea that started with his administration,” Edwards told the audience at his recent installation ceremony at NCU.
