Section 10
Methodology
Every figure in this report comes from a fixed set of source tables. This page records where each number originates, how institutions and programmes are grouped, and which judgements were made when the source data disagreed with itself.
8
Source tables
Bundled as static data
27
Core institutions
The master list
29
Cleaning actions
Applied before any chart
None
Estimated values
Nothing is imputed or modelled
| Source table | What it covers | Fields used | Rows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Master_list_of_Institutions | 27 degree-granting and technical institutions | Name, category, town, abbreviation, year of establishment | 27 |
| Enrolment | Reported student headcount | Institution, abbreviation, enrolment | 13 |
| Comparative_Programmes_with_Yearly_Costs | Programme-level annual tuition | Institution, degree type, course, cost per year, modality | 98 |
| Staff_Qualifications | Academic staff by highest qualification | Doctorate, masters, PG diploma, bachelors, diploma/certificate, total | 12 |
| Research + Research_Contact_Hrs | Research policy, funding sources and teaching load | Time allocation, weekly contact hours, funding, narrative | 12 |
| Partnerships_and_MOUs | Publicly documented agreements | Title, date, source URL | 37 |
| Geographic_Spread_of_Locations | Registered tertiary and vocational addresses | Name, address, derived parish | 73 |
The tables are institutional submissions and public records compiled for this report. They are bundled with the site as static data, so every page renders the same figures for every reader.
- The master list is the spine. The 27 institutions in the master list define the report's universe. Every other table is joined to it by a canonical institution name.
- Names are canonicalised. Variants such as "University of Technology" and "University of Technology, Jamaica", or "Mico College University" and "The Mico University College", are merged to one name before any aggregation.
- Categories come from the source. University, Community College, Teachers College, TVET and the three single-institution categories are used exactly as submitted; none are re-classified.
- Aggregates are kept separate. "Teachers' Colleges of Jamaica" is a group return rather than a single campus. It is shown in enrolment totals but excluded from per-institution master joins.
- Locations are separate from institutions. The geographic table lists 73 registered addresses, including centres belonging to institutions outside the master list.
- Cost is annual tuition in J$ as published by the institution, not total programme cost and not inclusive of fees, materials or residence.
- Degree types are normalised for casing only ("Bachelor Of" to "Bachelor of"). No programme is moved between degree types.
- Modality is split on commas, so a programme offered full-time and part-time counts once in each modality filter but only once in totals.
- Averages exclude blanks. Programmes with no published cost are listed but omitted from every average.
- Parishes are derived from addresses, matching parish names in the address string; Kingston and St Andrew are reported together as Kingston, consistent with how addresses are written in the source.
Coverage is uneven. Enrolment is reported by 13 of 27 institutions and staff qualifications by 7. Sector totals are therefore totals of what was reported, never estimates of the whole sector.
"Not reported" is not zero. Any institution missing from a return is shown as not reported and left out of that chart's denominators.
Time is not comparable across tables. Submissions were not all made in the same cycle, so the report compares the most recent reported figure per institution rather than a single fixed year.
MOUs are a public record, not a census. The partnership timeline reflects agreements that were publicly announced; the rise after 2019 partly reflects better reporting.
Applied automatically when the data is built
Name merged · 21
- Heart College for Innovation and Technology→HEART College for Innovation and TechnologyRecorded in master list
- Heart College of Beauty Services→HEART College of Beauty ServicesRecorded in master list
- Heart College of Construction Services→HEART College of Construction ServicesRecorded in master list
- Heart College of Hospitality Services→HEART College of Hospitality ServicesRecorded in master list
- University of Technology→University of Technology, JamaicaRecorded in enrolment return
- Teachers College of Jamaica→Teachers' Colleges of JamaicaRecorded in staff return
- Mico University College→The Mico University CollegeRecorded in programme cost table
- The Moneague College→Moneague CollegeRecorded in programme cost table
- Mico College University College→The Mico University CollegeRecorded in research return
- Mico College University→The Mico University CollegeRecorded in contact hours return
- Brown’s Town Community College→Browns Town Community CollegeMatched to master institution list
- Caribbean Maritime University (formerly Caribbean Maritime Institute)→Caribbean Maritime UniversityMatched to master institution list
- Church Teachers’ College→Church Teachers' CollegeMatched to master institution list
- Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts→Edna Manley CollegeMatched to master institution list
- G.C. Foster College of Physical Education and Sport→GC Foster College of Physical Education and SportMatched to master institution list
- HEART College of Innovation & Technology→HEART College for Innovation and TechnologyMatched to master institution list
- Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College→Sam Sharpe Teachers' CollegeMatched to master institution list
- Shortwood Teachers’ College→Shortwood Teachers' CollegeMatched to master institution list
- St. Joseph’s Teachers’ College→Saint Joseph's Teachers' CollegeMatched to master institution list
- The University of the West Indies→University of the West IndiesMatched to master institution list
- University of the Commonwealth Caribbean (formerly University College of the Caribbean)→University of the Commonwealth CaribbeanMatched to master institution list
Outside master list · 1
- Teachers' Colleges of Jamaica→Teachers' Colleges of JamaicaReported as an aggregate, kept but excluded from per-institution master joins
Degree label normalised · 1
- Bachelor Of Science→Bachelor of ScienceInconsistent casing in source
Name normalised · 6
- B&B University College (formerly B&B Institute of Business)→B&B University CollegeFormer-name suffix and typography normalised
- Bethel Bible College of the Caribbean - Jamaica (formerly Bethel Bible College)→Bethel Bible College of the Caribbean - JamaicaFormer-name suffix and typography normalised
- College for Leadership & Theological Development (formerly Institute for Theological and Leadership Development)→College for Leadership & Theological DevelopmentFormer-name suffix and typography normalised
- NCB Corporate Learning Campus (formerly NCB Staff Training Centre)→NCB Corporate Learning CampusFormer-name suffix and typography normalised
- Regent College of the Caribbean (formerly Jamaica Bible College)→Regent College of the CaribbeanFormer-name suffix and typography normalised
- St. Michael’s College and Seminary (formerly St. Michael’s Theological College)→St. Michael's College and SeminaryFormer-name suffix and typography normalised