A SOFTWARE grant valued at US$118 million (J$10.7 billion) was yesterday presented to the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) by Siemens Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Software Inc.

The presentation took place at the university's main campus in Mande-ville, Manchester.

"As Jamaicans, we have a great vision for ourselves, that by 2030, we can be recog-nised as a developed country by United Nations standards," said Dr Herbert Thomp-son, president of NCU.

"We know that we will need to continue to train and develop our next generation of engineers and manufacturers to achieve that goal. This grant from Siemens PLM will help establish a world-class engineering department for our students and perhaps inspire them to help us reach our goal."

Alfredo Trevino, vice-president - sales, Siemens PLM Software, said his organisation was happy to partner with NCU to provide PLM solutions as the training tool for its next generation of engineers.

"We hope that through this in-kind software grant, students will have the opportunity to gain a better understanding of how product life-cycle management tools and computer-aided engineering are used to help bring innovative thinking and ideas to life."

The grant, which is the largest in the island's history, will provide training for students and enrich the university's engineering curriculum in pre-paring students to enter the work-force. It includes NX software, Siemens PLM Software's digital product-development solution, which includes computer-aided design, manufacturing and engineering (CAD/CAM/CAE) applications.