The main campus of the Moneague College is centrally located in a small rural village in St. Ann, a parish famous for its salubrious climate and its subterranean lake which rises periodically.

 

The property was first known as Rose Hall when it was purchased by its original  owner, Englishman John Hutchinson. He left Rose Hall to his two daughters and stipulated that it would be the legacy of his grandchildren. In the late 1800s, the sisters failed to pay taxes on the property and the government took it over.

 

The ensuing years saw the property taking on many functions: a hotel that accommodated visitors to an agricultural exhibit in the early 1890s; a juvenile camp for wayward girls; and during World War I, a Soldier Camp.

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It was in response to the growing need for education and the training of primary school teachers that the Moneague College opened its doors as a teacher training institution in 1956 led by first principal Dr. Aubrey Phillips. It opened with 104 students. Demand increased enrolment to 626 by 1978 and by the middle of the 1980s enrolment had increased to approximately 900 full-time students.

 

Initially, the college concentrated on teacher training in Primary and Early Childhood Education, but as demand increased, training for Secondary School Teachers was added. In 1981, a three-year intra-mural training course was added to the curriculum.

 

The college was closed in 1985 and reopened in 1987, with a new focus: the training of a group of teachers who held Trained Teachers’ Certificates. The college’s effectiveness as a teacher training institution was reflected in it gaining the esteemed Dudley Ransford Brandyce (D.R.B.) Grant Award for the highest achiever in Early Childhood and Primary Post Certificate Training for four consecutive years. The college earned the award six times in the ten-year run of the programme.

 

In 1993, the college evolved into a multi-disciplinary institution, when it became a member of the Council of Community Colleges of Jamaica (CCCJ). The college began offering programmes such as Business Studies, Office Administration, Computer Studies, AAT, A’ Levels, CXC/GCE, Management Information System, (MIS) and  Office Technology. An Evening School began in that same year, offering various professional and short courses. These included Cake Baking and Decoration, Interior Design, Floral Arrangement and a Certificate in Computing.

 

As the evolution of the Moneague College continued, 1997 saw the reintroduction of the three-year intra-mural teacher training programme in Primary Education and Secondary Education in Business Studies. The Teacher Education Department was further diversified in the year 2000 with the introduction of a three-year Diploma course in Literacy Studies. This programme was designed to prepare teachers to meet literacy and other reading needs of students at the Primary and Secondary levels of the educational system. Additionally, to make the Secondary programme more responsive to the needs of the society, the Business programme was adjusted to include a computer major in the year 2002.

 

The College expanded its programme offerings in 1997 and began offering, in conjunction with the University of the West Indies (Mona), Certificates in Management Studies, Public Administration and later Social Work. More recent joint programme offerings are evidence that this relationship continues to strengthen: the Bachelor of  Education Degree in Literacy Studies started in 2004 and the Bachelor of Science Degree in Social Work, in September 2011.

 

In 2007, the College became a member of the Consortium of Institutions for Teacher Education (CITE) and began offering the Bachelor of Education Degree in Primary Education on a part-time basis.

 

With further expansion of the College, two satellite campuses have been established;  one in Linstead and the other in Port Maria. Both campuses offer Teacher Education and CCCJ programmes.

 

 

In the 2016/2017 academic school year, the college strengthened its relationship with a few local tertiary institutions through franchise arrangements to offer specific programmes. The college has a partnership arrangement with the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU), to offer the Logistics and Supply Chain Management Programme, the Mico University College, to offer the government sponsored Secondary Mathematics Education Programme, and the Jamaica Theological Seminary (JTS) to offer the Bachelors in Social Work programme.

 

 

The Moneague College is a dynamic institution, and the future will reflect this dynamism. Locally, we maintain excellent relationships with other national and regional universities as several of our graduates from different programmes have earned their degrees from these universities. We have also established several partnerships with universities on the North American and European continents. Presently, the College has partnerships with Monroe College, City College Birmingham, Nash Community College, New Hampshire University and North-Eastern Illinois University. Many of our graduates go on to pursue Bachelors and Masters Degrees at these institutions.

 

We remain committed to the adoption of initiatives that will ensure effective and efficient delivery of our services. As a fully owned Government of Jamaica institution, we would like to remain on the cutting edge of innovation and service. In the last five years we have established several new programmes and have seen resounding success in the progress of our students in the working world and in further studies. 

 

We will  continue and where necessary, improve our programmes, products and services to our students, staff and visitors.to achieve our primary goal of being the premier mult-idisciplinary institution in the Caribbean, offering quality programmes, providing sound leadership, and producing global citizens who are responsive to society’s needs and possess relevant skills in a dynamic, social, intellectual, and political landscape.