In a presentation to the annual business meeting of the Council of the University of the West Indies the newly installed Vice Chancellor, Professor Eon Nigel Harris, outlined his vision for the University as being the institution of first choice for Caribbean nationals seeking quality higher education, as being the first in creating new knowledge through research and as the port of first call for Caribbean governments needing advice and technical expertise for policy development, strategic planning and programme implementation.

Professor Harris acknowledged that the tertiary education needs of those contributing countries which do not have campuses are not adequately being served and pledged to change this by adopting a strategic approach in identifying the human and financial resources needed and determining how these will be acquired. He proposed to hold strategic planning sessions in each country with representatives from government, tertiary level institutions, business and financial institution to assess the individual needs of each country and determine how the University can best satisfy those needs, in collaboration with the institutions mentioned. To facilitate this process and to improve communication between the University and its main stakeholders, a Government Relations Unit will be established in the Vice-Chancellery financed with special project funds.

The Vice Chancellor announced his intention of fashioning a new UWI/Government/Business partnership aimed at providing more stable funding for the institution, while containing government funding at levels supportive of the teaching enterprise, and limiting increases in tuition fees. Strategies for attaining this include expanding access to concessional loans, pursuing other avenues of fundraising and generating income from contract research and providing technical advisory services.

The UWI’s largely unheralded accomplishments in research in areas such as agriculture (yam tissue culture, genetic improvement and resistance to diseases of several crops), engineering, environmental studies and health economics were highlighted in the Vice Chancellor’s presentation. He concluded that the University had a talented cadre of scholars and a significant body of research relevant to Caribbean problems but the research output capacity still needed to be strengthened by sourcing adequate funding and by improving the administrative support for researchers’ efforts.
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Cecile Clayton
Office of Administration
UWI, Mona Campus

April 11, 2005