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UWI Annual Business Meeting considers 4th campus, trust fund, new visitor, senior leadership changes

For Release Upon Receipt - April 30, 2019

UWI


The annual business meeting of University Council convened on Friday, April 26 at the Teaching and Learning Complex, The UWI St. Augustine Campus.

This meeting, chaired by Chancellor, Robert Bermudez, was attended by representatives of all of the contributing governments, and dealt with a number of matters including reports on the feasibility of the proposal for a fourth landed campus in Antigua & Barbuda, the establishment of a UWI Trust Fund, the appointment of a new Visitor for The UWI and several new senior executive appointments, endorsement of recommendations for the award of honorary degrees and progress report on year one implementation of the University’s Triple A Strategy (Strategic Plan 2017-2022).

The opening session was one of the major highpoints of this meeting of the University Council. It featured the comprehensive report by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles. Entitled Our Reputation Revolution: Promoting the Post IMF Caribbean Renaissance, the report highlighted some of the key successes and milestone achievements of the University in the reporting year 2017-2018. Among these were the advancement of the University’s global reputation and reach across five continents, and the hemispheric and international validation demonstrated in the recent World Rankings by the Times Higher Education. Vice-Chancellor Beckles also spent some time emphasising The UWI’s next phase and its planning for posterity. He noted, “our stakeholders’ expectation is that the University will intellectually craft the future in a fashion that will impact everyday life across the region. The call is for a precise and intense alignment of public and sectoral desires with our capacity to generate their actualisation.”

The Vice-Chancellor’s presentation aired live on UWItv, making it accessible to all UWI stakeholders—as part of the University’s commitment to transparency, accountability and engagement across all stakeholder groups.

In its closed session, the meeting of Council considered a diverse range of matters. Among them was the decision to replace the Crown as the Visitor. This follows the November 2018 approval by the Privy Council to have this position filled by an eminent jurist from within the Caribbean region. A key role of the Visitor is to settle UWI disputes with staff or students. The University Council accepted the proposal to appoint Justice Rolston Nelson to the position with effect from May 1, 2019.

The Council also considered the recommendation from the University Finance & General Purposes Committee on the Report of the Technical Taskforce—presented by Co-Chairs, Pro Vice-Chancellors Alan Cobley and Densil Williams—on the proposal to establish a fourth landed campus of The UWI in Antigua & Barbuda. The governments of the campus countries were given time to consider the proposal, and their submissions will be heard at the next meeting of the University Finance and General Purposes Committee, scheduled for May 30, 2019 at Cave Hill, Barbados.

Council also approved the establishment of a UWI Trust Fund as a longer term solution to provide a source of revenue to reduce the existing funding gap of roughly US$70 million annually. The intent, as articulated by the University Grants Committee Chair and Prime Minister of Barbados, the Honourable Mia Mottley, is “to use the interest from the Fund to help sustain aspects of its operations with a view of keeping fees at an affordable level for Caribbean students.”

Other matters dealt with by Council included the approval of recommendations for the conferral of honorary doctorates at the graduation exercises to be held in October/November; and several senior executive appointments, with effect from August 1, 2019.  These include the appointment of:

-       Dr Maurice D. Smith as the new University Registrar, to succeed Mr. C. William Iton.

-       Professor Clive Landis to succeed Professor Alan Cobley as the new Pro Vice-Chancellor, Undergraduate Studies.

-       Professor Winston Moore to succeed Professor Clive Landis as new Deputy Principal, The UWI Cave Hill Campus.

 

End

 

Notes to Editor

The online version of the Vice-Chancellor’s Report to Council is available at www.uwi.edu/vcreport 

About the University Council

The University Council is the highest governing body of The UWI with powers as prescribed in the University’s Statute 20. The University Council is constituted in accordance with Statute 18 and consequently the decision-making authority on matters such as appointments, the management of the finances, and all business affairs of the University. Its membership comprises the Chancellor (Chair), the Vice-Chancellor, the Pro Chancellor, the Chairs of the Campus Councils, the Treasurer, the Pro Vice-Chancellors, the Campus Principals, the Chair of the Committee of Deans, the University Registrar, the University Bursar, the University Librarian, as well as representatives of all categories of staff; representatives of the Guild of Students; representatives of the Academic Board of other campuses; representatives of the Alumni body; representatives of the governments of The UWI’s contributing countries; representatives of Tertiary Level Institutions in the Caribbean; and nominees appointed by the Chancellor from among persons in industry, commerce, the professions, the labour movement and other non-governmental organisations.

About The UWI

For the past 70 years The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has provided service and leadership to the Caribbean region and wider world. The UWI has evolved from a university college of London in Jamaica with 33 medical students in 1948 to an internationally respected, regional university with near 50,000 students and four campuses: Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago, Cave Hill in Barbados, and an Open Campus. As part of its robust globalization agenda, The UWI has established partnering centres with universities in North America, Asia, and Africa such as the State University of New York (SUNY)-UWI Center for Leadership and Sustainable Development, the UWI-China Institute of Information Technology, the University of Lagos (UNILAG)-UWI Institute of African and Diaspora Studies and the Institute for Global African Affairs with the University of Johannesburg (UJ). The UWI offers over 800 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Social Sciences and Sport. 

As the region’s premier research academy, The UWI’s foremost objective is driving the growth and development of the regional economy. Times Higher Education has ranked The UWI among the top 1,258 universities in world for 2019, and the 40 best universities in its Latin America Rankings for 2018, and was the only Caribbean-based university to make the prestigious lists.  For more, visit www.uwi.edu.

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)

 

 

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