PAGE 10 THE CAYMANIAN WEEKLY JUNE 12, 1969 C&W TO SPEND £15 MILLION
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This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from June 1969.
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Now we are talking of systems based on hundreds." "For example we are going ahead now with a major expansion of the tropospheric scatter radio system running into the Cayman Islands to meet the greatlyincreased needs of business there." "Further south in the Eastern Caribbean area, we also expect to be installing two more Earth Stations as soon as our negotiations with Governments are complete". Mr. Willett explained that Cable and Wireless is reconstructing its Caribbean staff training schemes to provide more qualified staff to support its heavy capital investmentprogramme. At present the Company has three training schools in the West Indies. One is for operators and the others are basic technical schools - one in the radio field and one in the telephone field. Mr. Willett said "The present training scheme tends, in a sense, to be inward looking in that it produces people who are experts in their fields within the Company and carry our business forward very efficiently. Nowadays, however, we not only need more widely trained experts but people are looking more for recognised diplomas. Therefore we are going to reconstruct our training scheme taking these factors into account. The new programme will apply equally to both present employees and new entrants." He added that the overall scheme aims at the most successful people reaching graduate or professional engineer status. Out of the Cable and Wireless staff of about 1,000 in the Caribbean area about 70 or so would be on training at any given time under the new programme. Mr. Willett said that a recent visit to the Caribbean by the Company's Technical Director held good promise that the first half of the new training programme could be carried out in the Caribbean educational systems and plans were now being made accordingly.
The second half the more advanced stages of training needed still to be carried out in the U.K. and it therefore followed that more men would be sent there in future on courses. Earlier in the week Cable and Wireless announced that it was awarding 15 University Scholarships to students in Commonwealth Caribbean countries in which the Company operates and which are served by the University of the West Indies. The scholarships, which are tenable at the faculties of science and engineering, are open to all students and those who are awarded them will not be obliged to join the Company staff when they have completed their studies.
