[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Click here to read the Cayman Compass Story about the Class of 2014
Click here to see photos from The 42nd Commencement!
Click here to watch the greetings by the Board Chair at Commencement
Click here to watch the degree conferrals!
Click here to watch the Commencement Address!
Click here to watch the student speaker!
Click here to watch the special awards!
February 12, 2015
A total of 45 students graduated from the International College of the Cayman Islands in a commencement ceremony at the Marriott resort.
Seven students earned Masters in Business Administration qualifications – the top qualification offered at the college. Five students got masters degrees, 15 got bachelor of science degrees and 18 graduated with associate degrees in a range of subjects, including finance, accounting, and human and social studies.
Premier Alden McLaughlin congratulated the students on their qualifications during the ceremony earlier this month, saying their results would put them on the route to career success.
He added, “Tonight I am supposed to impart amazing and life-changing advice; to give you the secret to success. That’s easy. Work hard, stay true to yourself and work harder.”
David Marshall, president of the college, said he was pleased with the results.
Mr. Marshall has introduced some controversial reforms at the college, including a minimum two hours of homework for every hour of class time.
He said the graduating class had benefited from some of those reforms, but he said this year’s results provided a “benchmark” for the early stages of the new approach at the college.
He added that the time to judge whether his changes, which also include raising the minimum graduation requirement from a 2.0 GPA to 2.5 GPA, had been successful, would be in three years – when the class of 2017 goes through its graduation ceremony.
He said if academic results, job outcomes and business and student satisfaction with the college had not improved at that point, he expected his contract would not be renewed.
The overall GPA for the 45 graduates recognized at the Marriott on Feb. 12 was 3.25.
Mr. Marshall said it had been a really strong class. He was particularly pleased with the results in the MBA, where ICCI students finished in the 60th percentile among nearly 8,000 students worldwide sitting the Major Field Test – the external examination for that program.
He said the goal was to have a steady improvement in performance on that test, as well as GPA for ICCI students, and to ensure that all other courses had similarly credible external testing.
Mr. Marshall added, “I have told the staff that if we do not reach targeted outcomes over the next three periods, that I fully expect that board should terminate me as president and all staff members who were not successful in maintaining their academic performance standard of students in their charge.
“If we are not preparing students to be successful or if businesses on island are not pleased with the quality of our graduates, the board has to have the will find a team that is capable of delivering academic outcomes to position students for success.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]