The Tertiary Unit of the Ministry and Human Resource Development is charged with coordinating activities pertaining to scholarships, awards and grants that allow citizens to pursue tertiary level education locally, regionally and internationally.   Government has through the years, provided significant portions of its resources to this area to enable it to meet the human resource needs of the country.  This has been achieved through the provision of scholarships, the payment of fees for citizens at the University of the West Indies and the provision of training opportunities at the Barbados Community College, the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic and Erdiston Teachers Training College.

The staff complement of the section consists of one Senior Education Officer, one Administrative Officer I, two Administrative Officers II, one Clerical Officer, one Clerk/Typist and one Stenographer Typist.

The Section deals specifically with:-

(i) Processing of matters pertaining to tertiary education;
(ii) Processing of Barbados Scholarships, Exhibitions and Awards of Excellence;
(iii) Processing of National Development Scholarships, Commonwealth Scholarships and other Scholarships and awards.
(iv) Processing of applications for Bursaries, Financial Assistance and for Sponsorship.
(v) Identifying priority areas for training and providing Career Counseling to students who wish to pursue tertiary education.
(vi) Equivalency and Accreditation Matters