Chaired by Chancellor, Sir George Alleyne, the Council of The University of the West Indies held its annual business meeting over two days – Thursday April 20 to Friday April 21, 2006. The sixty-two member body was augmented by members of the Chancellor’s Task Force on Governance, which presented to Council for consideration, its recommendations for reform of the governing bodies of the institution, including the Council itself.

The Task Force saw no need for changes in the powers of Council but recommended a reduction in size. The University Strategy Committee, on the other hand, needed to be refashioned, its name changed to the Strategy and Planning Committee and its membership altered so that it could play the vital role of strategic visioning and planning in order to present Council with the data for policy making.

The three Boards, namely, the Board for Undergraduate Studies, the Board for Graduate Studies and Research and the Board for Non-Campus Countries and Distance Education, came in for special attention. The Board for Undergraduate Studies was functioning well but it needed resources to carry out its essential work of quality assessment and control of programmes. The main recommendation in relation to the Board for Graduate Studies and Research (the Graduate School), was to disestablish the Graduate School. There was considerable debate over this and the recommendation was made that there should be a UWI School of Graduate Studies and Research. The recommendation to leave the design and delivery of graduate programmes as the responsibility of the Faculties and other teaching and research units of the University was heartily endorsed, however.

The most far-reaching changes were proposed for the Board dealing with Non-Campus Countries and Distance Education. It was recommended that there be a campus presence in each of the 15 contributing countries and that the term ‘non-campus countries should be abolished and the term ‘new campus countries’ be used to distinguish these 12 countries from the three ‘old campus countries’ of Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago and Barbados. The University should establish bursarial and registrarial services specifically for the NCCs and an Academic Programme Committee should be established to oversee the academic offerings in these countries. Moreover, the Office of this Board as well as the Pro Vice-Chancellor as its Chair should be physically located in one of the new campus countries.

The Chancellor’s Task Force was very concerned that the regional character of the University of the West Indies be preserved. Accordingly, it recommended that a university international centre should be established to coordinate its interface with the external environment, for example, by linking the UWI to developments of the Caribbean Community; that the University retain geographical exclusivity of some programmes, as a policy, in order to enhance the educational experience of students and finally, that the Committee of Deans which currently operates in an informal manner be institutionalised as a Standing Committee of Senate.

These recommendations engendered a lively debate within Council, which decided to appoint a small working group, chaired by Deputy Principal of the Mona Campus, Mr Joseph Pereira, to review the comments made and produce a revised draft for the consideration of Council in a special session dedicated for the purpose of approving the final Governance recommendations for implementation.
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Contact:
Cecile R. Clayton
Senior Assistant Registrar/Information Officer
Tel. (876) 977-2407
Fax (876) 977-1422
Email: cecile.clayton@uwimona.edu.jm

April 21, 2006