Don Robotham | The bling theory of development

The latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores have been released. This is the annual ranking of the education systems of 40 mainly developed countries based on their high-school student performance in mathematics, science and reading. The top six countries were: China, Singapore, Taiwan, Macao (China), Japan and South Korea.

The only European countries in the top 10 were Estonia (7) and the United Kingdom (9). The US ranked 16th, with Germany way down at 24. The ranking of the top 10 universities in Asia has also been published. Nine of the 10 are in China (including Hong Kong). The National University of Singapore tied for sixth place with Fudan University in Shanghai. No Indian university made it into the top 50.

But, instead of understanding where the rest of the modern world is going and getting our fundamentals in order, we are pursuing what I call the Bling Theory of Development. Let us briefly examine some of these fundamentals.

ENERGY

Energy costs in Jamaica for businesses are about US$0.24 per kWh, while the costs in the Dominican Republic are US$0.17 per kWh. As a householder, you don’t know where to turn. If you own a small business with narrow profit margins, it can drive you into bankruptcy. If you’re a large 300-room all-inclusive in Ocho Rios, you take a big hit.

Solar and wind combined currently provide only nine per cent of our total usage. The Government is now promising that the tender process to increase renewables by 300 megawatts, paired with 150 megawatts of storage capacity, will soon be underway. However, even assuming all goes smoothly with the tendering process and the build-out takes place on schedule, we shall still only be at 50% renewables by 2030. Barbados, on the other hand, is targeting 100 per cent renewables by the same date. What is wrong with us here in Jamaica?

Equally important is the question of who will control the renewable process and the entire energy system once we hit that 50%. Will it be us, the consumers, or will it be another monopoly situation which leaves us no better off, despite having moved closer to the renewables goal? The Government must give an ironclad undertaking that Jamaica is not going to move to renewables only to find ourselves still captive to a renewable energy monopolist.

SCIENCE ECOSYSTEM

For a small island state to modernise in today’s highly competitive global economy, cheap renewable energy and scientific education alone are not enough. We also have to develop a strong research and development capacity in order to innovate with new products and services to a globally competitive standard. This means one thing: we must develop a modern research and development ecosystem. At present, when we think of university education, we think overwhelmingly of teaching. We need to change this perspective: the key feature of the modern university is its research capability.

Scientific research is a very expensive business, largely because of, the high cost of equipment and the large amount of energy consumed. UWI’s science labs have been allowed to deteriorate, and desperately need upgrading. Given these costs, we have to specialise. We cannot keep splurging on prestige highway projects while our basic research facilities, on which our future depends, go to waste.

One area of research specialisation in which we could develop innovative agro-industrial products with a competitive advantage is natural products chemistry and biotechnology. In 2023, the Natural Products Institute and the Biotechnology Centre were merged to form the Caribbean Centre for Research in Bioscience at UWI. In addition to its master’s programmes, this centre has developed an important certificate programme for entrepreneurs, in collaboration with Mexican institutions. This is exactly the direction which UWI science needs to take. The problem, again, is that, because of the shortage of funds, the scale is still small: only about two to five doctoral candidates per year.

However, it’s not just a matter of throwing more research funding at UWI. More funding without restructuring will not yield the necessary results. Both UWI and UTech operate overwhelmingly as undergraduate teaching institutions. In 2024, there were 524 students graduating with degrees in UWI Mona natural science courses. Of this total, only nine were doctoral graduates. That’s less than two per cent! The overwhelming majority (439 students) received bachelor’s degrees. This will not work. What we need above all is for natural science to develop graduate programmes at the doctoral level and for UWI to become what is called an R1 university in the United States.

In 2024, the Faculty of Natural Sciences graduated 71 students with a taught MSc. We need a plan and the funding to advance this cohort to the doctoral level, where original research is required. To achieve this, undergraduate teaching loads have to be drastically reduced. Some faculty members will have to become mainly researchers rather than ‘lecturers’. This can’t be done instantly but, over time, graduating 71 doctoral students annually instead of nine would make a huge difference in our research output.

THE MISSING LINK

But we have to ensure that this research doesn’t just remain on campus. Our aim must be to convert research into innovative export firms to add value to the real Jamaican economy. Our focus must be on helping our small businesses to grow from being small to becoming globally competitive modern firms targeting the export market. This is what happens in Singapore with Enterprise Singapore. We therefore need our own Enterprise Jamaica.

For this to happen, we need to transform the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) and merge it with the Technology Innovation Centre (TIC) at UTech and reposition them to form Enterprise Jamaica. Enterprise Jamaica wouldn’t just be an incubator for business ideas brought to it. Enterprise Jamaica would itself originate business ideas and implement them in partnership with private firms. It must invest directly in launching these new modern export enterprises.

Yes, you read that right: government must help small entrepreneurs become big by taking equity. It’s the only practical way for our economy to grow, as most Jamaican entrepreneurs simply don’t have access to venture capital. If their government doesn’t help them, who will? How will they modernise and export and grow? It isn’t possible any other way. Yes, some of these will undoubtedly fail. But others will succeed and help to lift our economy and standard of living to an entirely different level.

At the moment, we are pursuing what I call the bling theory of development: shiny vote-catching projects dominate; shallow slogans promising overnight ‘prosperity’ are everywhere. An alphabet soup of acronyms threatens to drown us. Super salaries in infrastructure have become the norm. But the really hard, slogging foundational work, we won’t do. It will take decades for the deep knowledge and experience needed to develop a successful modern economy to take root. It will be uphill all the way. All the more reason to set out on this journey today, not tomorrow.

Don Robotham professor emeritus of anthropology and Africana studies, the Graduate Center, at City University of New York. Send feedback to drobotham@gmail.com and columns@gleanerjm.com.