Looking Beyond: UWI 2012
by Professor E. Nigel Harris
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Perhaps the two most significant obstacles we shall face in achieving the goals of the Plan are firstly, keeping the community engaged and secondly, an absence of sufficient financing. Ensuring continued engagement requires an “engaged leadership” which sees themselves as accountable for the Plan’s success. Reinforcement through continued publicity – this issue of the Pelican being one such effort, regular reporting at meetings at University, Campus and Faculty levels are all modalities that can ensure continued engagement and a sense of accountability.
Obtaining sufficient finances to enact the goals of the Plan are especially challenging, particularly at a time of a global fiscal crisis. Financing the Enterprise was one of the important enablers of the Plan and it has become even more pressing at this time. While regional governments have supported on-going operations of the four campuses, contributions to strategic initiatives have fallen short of needs for plan implementation in all core areas, except the Open Campus. In these circumstances, the campuses must rely on the generation of more revenues, savings and cost-containment to invest in new initiatives. Fortunately, there is much that can be done without considerable expenditures, though some areas, such as enhancement of postgraduate fellowships and research, will require more funding.
Strategic Plans are often documents that members of organizations quickly stick in their desk drawers and ignore thereafter. The UWI cannot afford this approach. Our constituents and stakeholders recognize that we must transform ourselves, if we are to continue being a force of change within our region. Within the context of the English-speaking Caribbean, we are the one organization with the knowledge capacity resources and potential cohesiveness that can drive greater integration and development of our dispersed people. Achievement of the latter goals will depend on the degree to which we to which we can accomplish transformational changes within our institution.
Professor E. Nigel Harris
Vice Chancellor, The University of the West Indies
[Download a PDF copy of the strategic plan -1.4 MB]
For reports and presentations on the plan’s implementation to date, visit the Office of Planning and development website
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