INTRODUCTORY NOTE THE Seminar opened at the Professional Centre of Jamaica, Kingston, on the afternoon of January 13th, 1975, when a message of welcome was received from the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Hon. Mr David Coore. The discussions ended on the morning of Saturday, January i8th. Under the Chairmanship of Sir Hugh Springer, of Barbados, Secretary-General of the Association of Commonwealth Universities and Chairman of the Commonwealth Foundation, delegates were present from thirteen Commonwealth countries. During the first three days, members of the Seminar heard and subsequently discussed keynote speeches from the following: Sir Egerton Richardson, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of the Public Services, Jamaica, on 'The Civil Service as a Unifying Agent in National Development'. Mr Walter Burke and Mr Edwin Carrington, of the Caribbean Community Secretariat, Georgetown, on 'Mutual Interaction for Integration'. Mr Robert Steel, Secretary of the Commonwealth Association of Surveying and Land Economy, on 'The Professions and their Contribution to Opinion Forming'. John B. Macdonald, Executive Director, Council of Ontario Universities on 'Relationships Between the Professions and the Universities.' At the close of the Seminar, the view was expressed that apart from the practical value of certain of the conclusions and recommendations arrived at, the meeting had had ,three further beneficial effects. Thanks to the initiative of the Commonwealth Foundation, it had been made possible first for expefts from a wide range of disciplines and countries to foregather; to take stock of and to search for answers to a number of the major problems which all faced. Second, these problems had at the start been considered against the regional backcloth of the Commonwealth Caribbean and then more broadly. And third, the meeting had been held in one of the eight Professional Centres so far sponsored by the Foundation's Trustees thus giving delegates the chance of seeing its premises at first hand; meeting its helpful and hospitable staff and learning something of the Jamaican Centre's role in fostering professional links with its own government, university and community. -
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