Vice chancellor of the University of the West Indies, Prof E Nigel Harris has lauded the government of Trinidad and Tobago for making an "unprecedented investment" in tertiary education. Harris was speaking in a recent interview with St Augustine campus principal and pro vice chancellor, Prof Clement Sankat, which took place at the office of the campus principal. Harris said developments in the world required graduates with advanced knowledge and that the regional university has to fulfill a higher purpose by promoting research and innovation, especially in areas that will serve regional development.
"The University of the West Indies must be at the heart of solutions in developing strategies to reduce crime, in finding ways to mitigate environmental degradation, in looking at the issues of food security and agricultural development as well as the competitiveness of businesses in the region," said Harris.\
In relation to the issues of food security and agricultural development, Harris said the University was "striving hard" to recreate the Faculty of Agriculture, which would involve delinking the agriculture from the Faculty of Science and giving it its own independent status once again. Sankat said the enrollment of students at the St Augustine campus had grown by 125 per cent in the last decade and now stood at close to 18,000 students. The St Augustine campus principal also noted the "dramatic growth" in post-graduate students, who now number nearly 5,000. Part of the reason for the strong growth in student numbers at the St Augustine campus was the decision by the previous administration to introduce the Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses (GATE) programme, through which tuition is free for all citizens of Trinidad & Tobago pursuing undergraduate programmes (including distance learning programmes) at any campus of The University of the West Indies or reading for the Legal Education Certificate at one of the three campuses offering it: the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad, the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica or the Eugene Dupuch Law School in The Bahamas.
In 2010, the St Augustine campus had income of $907 million, comprising Government remittances of $443.5 million (49 per cent), special project funds of $323.9 million (36 per cent) and tuition fees of $88 million (10 per cent). The campus gets about six per cent of its income from commercial operations and other income. Sankat noted that 2010 was an unusual year in terms of the Government's subvention to the campus because the State, in addition to the normal subsidies and transfers, made up in 2010 for an $80 million shortfall in the previous year. Asked about the quality of the university graduates, Harris said: "There is no doubt that we are graduating a sizeable number of very knowledgeable young people." He pointed to a number of international competition in which UWI students or UWI itself had excelled, including a global debating competition, a competition for writing business plans and an international moot court. He also pointed out that in the last four years, seven of the eight Rhodes scholars were UWI graduates.
Sankat said while there was no doubt about the quality of the graduates, surveys of employers to understand the attributes of graduates found some challenges in the ability of UWI alumni to communicate and to work in teams. There was also a perception of arrogance among some employers.
Both the principal and the vice chancellor spoke about initiatives by UWI to "bring Guyana back into the fold of the regional university." Prof Sankat said that already UWI is hosting programmes in Guyana and that as a result the South American nation was "getting the benefits of being part of a regional institution." He noted that Cheddi Jagan, the late Guyanese president, was one of the first Caribbean leaders to think about the establishment of a national university. Prof Sankat also said that the St Augustine campus hoped to turn the sod in July or August for the Penal/Debe campus.
To be constructed at an initial estimated cost of $300 million, the new facilities are expected to include a library, a multi-function building, a law faculty building and a hall of residence/studens' union. The facilities are expected to accommodate the increased demand for legal education, said Sankat. Another initiative of the St Augustine campus is to transfer the University Field Station from Mt Hope to Orange Grove and develop an ultra-modern facility opposite Trincity. "We received a letter from the Commissioner of State Lands in December that we can occupy some 200 acres of land in Orange Grove," said Sankat. This is as a result of the university having to give up land elsewhere. UWI is hoping to get funding support from China for the project, said Sankat.