So is the perception that Cave Hill has moved away from this original role of fostering regional integration to become a largely Barbadian institution true?

Senator McClean does not believe so: “What I would say is that as the numbers have grown the ratios on the campus have changed. You have to keep in mind that the Barbadian student is at a distinct advantage over his colleague from the Eastern Caribbean who has to get a scholarship or for the most part finance his own studies, while the Barbadian does not have to pull his own pocket. So it makes access easier.

“The other thing is that as the opportunities for part-time studies increase, the number of students with commitments to other things like jobs, children or families also increase, but these part-time students often don’t have the time or opportunity to interact with Caribbean students who are on campus full-time. A very significant number of our students at Cave Hill are women who are working, with some other kind of responsibility…

“The other issue is that the options available to students from the Eastern Caribbean are more. People can go to North America, and a number of the programmes are offered in the islands so many students are able to do their first two or three years at home and just come to Cave Hill to finish up. That has changed the dynamic in terms of the number of non-Barbadians students who may be at Cave Hill for an extended period of time.”

This development, added Senator McClean, who for more than 20 years has offered advice to small businesses, much of it voluntary, should not divert the university from its long-established path: “I believe the university has to continue to play a pivotal role in developing the human resources of the region. The university’s role is to develop first and foremost, beyond providing technical knowledge, the analytical skills of its students – skills in critical thinking.

“When I taught management my point to students always was that I can help you to understand marketing, I can expose you to strategic management, but the most important thing I want you to develop is the capacity to think critically.

“I am not preparing a graduate to go and work with Company A or Company B. I am preparing a graduate who can go to Company A in the private sector, Company B in the public sector or Company C in the non-profit sector. And they have to be able to ask themselves and answer: How do I adapt myself, my knowledge, to the requirements of that organization or sector?

“This is of critical importance because some people believe the university is about training, but the university is about education. The training component will be part of that, but the focus is not on training, it is on education. Companies should train their people! In other words, they should refine the skills that people bring to them.”

Particularly in the case of Barbados, the 1986 Fulbright Fellow added, the university must place greater emphasis on communications skills as it develops and enhances its programmes. “What I think needs to be developed more are skills in analysis and in communications — and that is something I worry about a lot when I listen to Barbadians,” McClean added, noting that she did not detect the same level of concern about the lack of communications skills in the other islands.

“Barbadian youth seem in large numbers to be losing their ability to distinguish how, when and where they need to communicate in a particular way. Communications skills are critical whether you are a humanities graduate or an engineering graduate… The university must provide the frame which will be filled out when you get out there in the community or the business world.”

But she is not worried about the capacity of the institution to do this, since it has developed a solid reputation of producing quality graduates.

“I remember the former dean at the College of Business at Ohio University, Professor Lee saying to me when I was a student there (there were about six UWI graduates on the MBA programme at the time), and reiterating it when he came here on holiday, that UWI students were better prepared for graduate schools than most of the North American students who were our contemporaries.

1 | 2 | 3  Next Page Previous Page