Vice Chancellor Designate of The University of the West Indies, Professor E. Nigel Harris, has urged CARICOM Heads of Government to consider the establishment of a Caribbean Regional Research Funding Agency. He said that such an agency would be financed by national and regional governments and would provide research funding on a competitive basis, using the peer review mechanism, and focusing on projects likely to contribute to the growth and development of the region.
Professor Harris was speaking at the 25th meeting of the conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community held in St. George’s Grenada from July 4 – 7.
He said that no one could doubt the contribution that The University of the West Indies has made to the development of the Caribbean. However, the University faces the challenge of creating an institution that is truly regional as well as the challenge of inadequate resources. He noted that although the governments had provided generous support to the University, the current resources were inadequate to meet the educational needs of a much larger population of students as well as the need to grow our graduate programmes and research enterprise.