SUNDAY 1ST MARCH, 2015 – UWI TODAY
3
EDITORIAL TEAM
Campus Principal
Professor Clement Sankat
Director of Marketing and Communications
Dr. Dawn-Marie De Four-Gill
EDITOR
Ms. Vaneisa Baksh
CONTACT US
The UWI Marketing and Communications Office
Tel: (868) 662-2002, exts. 82013 / 83997 or email:
OUR CAMPUS
From left: Professor Chen Zi Ming, Professor Clement Sankat, Clement
James, H.E. Chandradath Singh, and Dean Heather Cateau.
Talking Steelpan
During his Carnival visit
to Trinidad and Tobago, the Trinidad and Tobago
Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, Professor Chen Zi Ming of the China
Conservatory of Music, paid a courtesy call to the UWI St. Augustine campus in
February. The delegation included His Excellency Chandradath Singh, and Mr.
Clement James of the International Conference and Panorama Secretariat (ICP).
They were met by Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal, Professor Clement
Sankat and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Education, Heather Cateau.
The discussion revolved around ways to further strengthen the relationship
between China and Trinidad and Tobago, as it relates to the performing arts; with
particular interest in the Steelpan. Professor Sankat gave the assurance that The
UWI, through its music and theatre arts departments, will continue to explore
ways to establish closer ties with the People’s Republic of China, having recently
established a Confucius Institute at the St. Augustine campus.
It was a classic night indeed
– the kind when all the finer
qualities of humans were on
display – as a collection of
groups came together to put
on a show for a treasured
life.
The Caribbean Man – A
Tribute to Black Stalin came
off on February 22 at the
Hyatt Regency with more
than 20 entertainers gracing
the stage.
A project of The UWI
with one of its honorary
graduates, Roy Cape, the
four-hour show was meant
not only to honour Cape, but
to raise funds to help with
the medical bills of the Black
Stalin, another UWI honorary
graduate.
And it was such an
outpouring of support as
friends and well-wishers
turned out and entertainers
of all sorts came together to sing Stalin songs and share Stalin warmth in their
performances.
Stalin, who was christened Leroy Calliste, is recovering from a stroke he
suffered late last year. The Pearl and Bunty Lara Foundation, represented by its
president Agnes Cyrus (nee Lara) used the occasion to present a cheque for $100,000
to Patsy Calliste, Leroy’s wife.
His grandson, Kevan Calliste (in photograph) took to the stage to render the
1991 classic,
“Black Man Feeling to Party,”
much to the delight of the audience.
Among the performers were David Rudder, Chalkdust, Gypsy, Explainer,
Valentino, Bally, Twiggy, Pink Panther, Ras Kommanda, Mungal Patasar and Pantar,
Blaxx, Machel Montano, Destra, and Farmer Nappy, to name a few.
The performers were supported by the Roy Cape All Stars as they belted out
some of the hits from Black Stalin, a five-time National Calypso Monarch.
Photo: Arnaldo James
Feeling to Party
The Season to Account
for Our Stewardship
FROM the Principal
The management of
all organizations
are
required to adhere to
the highest standards of
financial accountability
in their stewardship
o f t h e i r bu s i n e s s
operations.The UWI is
by no means excluded
and we continue to
comply fervently with
the requisite processes
that have been agreed to with our regional
governments. Further, in the execution of our
financial responsibility, in many ways, The UWI
exceeds the expectation, by clear demonstration
of astute financial management practices and
procedures sometimes in difficult economic
circumstances.
The nature ofThe UWI’s regional configuration
makes this job of executing financial efficiency
and accountability even more formidable; as our
operations span various regional governments
– governments that have the responsibility to
significantly fund this institution’s annual operations.
In this regard, it is demanded of us at The UWI to
hold to the most rigorous process for budgeting;
resulting in the approval of annual funds for the
operations of our regional institution.
In preparing the annual budget, the Campus
takes into consideration our developmental
needs, particularly human resources services to
be maintained, anticipated inflation rates, and
the outlook of the economies of regional states.
Important to note, is that there are no provisions
for the consideration or inclusion in the budgets
for proposals for increases to salaries and wages,
or retroactive payments attributable to collective
agreements to be negotiated or to be concluded. In
this accord, the University holds no discretion to
determine salary adjustments, and are committed to
hold faithfully to the remit and directive given to us
by the CPO; ultimately allowing us no flexibility.
As prescribed under our financial regulations,
to incorporate revised salary rates would require
a supplementary budget allocation. But critical
towards expediting the processing of this allocation,
is the timeliness or lack thereof by the various
bargaining units to submit their proposals. For
each year this budgeting process is directed
to the evaluation and review of the ways in
which the funding from the previous year was
utilized. Following this, proposals for new projects,
activities and undertakings are presented to various
committees such as the Technical AdvisoryCommittee
(TAC), Campus Grants Committee, University Grants
Committee, the Finance and General Purposes
Committee of The UWI and the University Council.
It is important to point out that the TAC in particular,
is chaired by the Permanent Secretaries (campus
countries) from various Ministries of Government;
this includes the Ministry of Tertiary Education
and Skills Training, from Trinidad and Tobago, for
example. The Campus Grants Committees (CGCs)
are chaired by either Ministers of Education or
the Ministers responsible for tertiary education;
in addition to other members appointed by the
Governments of the campus countries. The CGCs
review and approve the recommendations presented
by the Chairs of the TACs, who meet annually.
Paramount to their mandate is to examine the
University’s budgetary proposals and to recommend
to Governments the provision of the necessary
funding. This year the University Grants Committee
(UGC) meets on March 18 at Mona and we expect
our Campus’ budget to be given the green light. Our
TACmeetings were held on February 12 and 13 in the
Cayman Islands. The University Grants Committee
has ministerial representations from 17 regional
governments.
Additionally, the Principals of the various
campuses are preparing to present to their respective
Campus Councils, the accomplishments of the past
year; in addition to their proposals for the upcoming
year. The audited financial statements of the Campus
for the previous year is also laid at this meeting
for approval. The Campus Council of The UWI St.
Augustine campus meets on March 24, 2015.
The UWI is a complex but accountable regional
organization. It would be interesting to be apprised
of how many other organizations both locally and
regionally follow such demanding measures of
financial management and accountability.The Campus
has in the past laid its annual reports in Parliament
for the purpose of sharing information and hopefully
exemplifying “best practice.”
We at the University are mindful of the
contracting economies of our Caribbean States, but
we remain hopeful of their unwavering commitment
to assisting us to provide the highest standard of higher
education, benchmarked against the best universities
in the world.
Clement K. Sankat
Pro Vice-Chancellor & Principal
