CARICOM Secretariat Scholarships Enable Caribbean Students to Advance in Public Procurement Law at University of Nottingham

Scholarships offered by the CARICOM Secretariat have allowed five Caribbean nationals to pursue a Postgraduate Certificate in Public Procurement Law and Policy offered by the University of Nottingham’s School of Law.

Following a successful open-call process in 2024, the fully-funded scholarships were awarded to the students – Vernecia Badal, Candice Callendar, Damion Edwards, Fericka Frue and Vanessa Jackson – who commenced study for the postgraduate law qualification in September.

CARIFORUM is a group of 15 Caribbean countries with various trade and other partnership agreements with the European Union (EU) and the UK. With the financial assistance of the EU, CARIFORUM launched the project – Capacity Building in CARIFORUM Countries in Competition, Public Procurement and Customs and Trade Facilitation – to facilitate specialist study at institutions including the University of Nottingham.

The Executive Programme in Public Procurement Law and Policy is an innovative part-time programme provided under the School of Law’s world-renowned Public Procurement Research Group. The programme offers a comprehensive grounding in the legal aspects of public procurement. Through the course, students gain an understanding of the nature of law and legal process, the principles and rules of public procurement law, the application of these rules in key national and international systems and models, and how to implement best practice in the context of a public procurement legal framework.

Olympia Bekou, Professor of Public International Law and Head of School, said: “The Executive Programme has longstanding connections with procurement professionals from the CARIFORUM region and we are fortunate to have benefited from their specialist insights on emerging issues in policy and practice. We are therefore delighted to welcome these five students to the programme and look forward to their valuable contributions.”

On completion of the course in 2025, the five postgraduate students will be required to continue in their roles as public procurement officials with their respective governments to enable internal knowledge transfer of public procurement law and policy and support efforts to implement the public procurement provisions of the CARIFORUM–European Union Economic Partnership Agreement.