Trinidad and Tobago’s national motto is “Together we aspire. Together we achieve.” Education has always been the tool to turn those aspirations into achievements. We are excited to work with Trinidad to make that tool more accessible beyond classroom walls through a country-wide initiative called knowledge.tt.
 |
| knowledge.tt is a new government initiative that is aimed at expanding access to and awareness of online learning opportunities across Trinidad and Tobago. |
“The government of Trinidad and Tobago is early to recognize the potential of online learning to enhance local education opportunities,” said Lila Ibrahim, our Chief Business Officer. “We’re looking forward to working together to explore how we can bring awareness and value of online education credentials to both citizens of Trinidad and Tobago and employers.” The Coursera team is in Trinidad and Tobago today at the launch event for knowledge.tt hosted by the Honorable Minister of Tertiary Education and Skills Training, Fazal Karim.
As a twin island country in the Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago views the rise of open online learning as an important opportunity to open the country up to the global community and gain access to the world’s great teachers and professors. With one of the highest mobile penetration rates in the world at 139%, Trinidad and Tobago is well positioned to be a leader in using online learning to bridge barriers to education at a nationwide level.
Knowledge.tt aims to expand access to and awareness of online learning opportunities across the country and help Trinidadians apply newfound skills in their careers and daily lives. Trinidad and Tobago is the first country to create such a comprehensive online education initiative in collaboration with two of the largest open online learning resources – Coursera and Khan Academy.
The knowledge.tt portal kick-off embarks on a widespread call-to-action campaign promoting a strategic selection of Coursera courses oriented towards three of the country’s top-growing economies: Business and Entrepreneurship, Creativity and the Arts, and Technology. The government will also work closely with the University of Trinidad and Tobago and its campuses to create Learning Hubs that will host facilitated Coursera classes open to the public. Graduates from Learning Hub programs will receive a certificate of participation from knowledge.tt under the auspices of the Honorable Minister Karim –on top of the certificates issued by Coursera – and gain access to an internship program of more than 400 participating employers.
Trinidad and Tobago is leading an important initiative to explore how governments can work with open online education providers to promote awareness and acceptance of online education as a meaningful credential. Knowledge.tt has already received widespread interest from top employers in the region who hope to both hire from the program and encourage employees to participate in online courses.
We believe that Coursera can play an important role in helping people to advance their skills, and we are thrilled to be partnering with Trinidad and Tobago in pioneering new educational models. We look forward to studying knowledge.tt progress and growth from which we will gain a better understanding of how to better serve our learners in Trinidad and Tobago and around the world.