News Releases

ST. AUGUSTINE, Trinidad and Tobago. Friday, June 3, 2022 – On June 2, 2022, the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago announced that it would not support the proposed increase in tuition fees submitted by The UWI St. Augustine Campus to UWI Council for programmes covered under Campus Grants Funding.  The Campus Executive Management team recognizes and empathizes with concerns expressed, especially as it relates to students and prospective students.  It was for this reason that the decisions to propose fee increases were made with careful consideration of the impact to all involved.  

It was reported yesterday that Campus costs had increased because it has grown beyond what its resources can bear. Higher enrolment was a major cause for increased costs. More than a decade ago, Government imperative to increase the tertiary participation rate (defined as the number of tertiary level graduates in each age cohort, as a percentage of the total number of persons in that cohort in the population) was based on the principle that tertiary level education is a key factor in moving from developing nation status to first world status. The sector responded, fuelled primarily by the current GATE programme and its predecessors. 

Over the last six years, The Campus has reduced its actual operating expenditure for Campus Grants programmes by $115 million (net of provisioning). Overall staff costs have essentially remained unchanged, despite increased cost due to settlement of union agreements. In fact, the Campus has successfully operated below budget for the past five years and has been commended year on year by technocrats at the Ministries of Education and Finance for its good fiscal management. For the past 4 years, the Campus has been managing with a correspondingly reduced TT Government subvention of $517.1 million.  As reported yesterday, it will be in deficit this year due to the cut of funding by 10%.

The provision of quality internationally accredited higher educational services to the region is costly. UWI St. Augustine fees have not increased in some 21 years – it was last changed before many of its students were born! UWI St. Augustine fees are currently the lowest in the UWI system and among tertiary education institutions in the Caribbean. The proposal that went before the Government and The UWI seeks to align its tuition fees with those at other Campuses.

Tuition fees for the upcoming semester will therefore remain the same, consequent to GORTT’s position. The Campus will be required to operate with considerable reduction to its finances and, hopefully, with minimal disruption. The documentation requested by GORTT, in preparation for a discussion for an increase as of academic year 2023/2024 is actively in progress as the Campus has been working to improve its operational efficiencies in the past few years and will continue to do so.

As it has always done, The UWI St Augustine Campus will continue to serve its students and society to the best of its ability in line with a globally recognised, world-class standard of higher education. Many of its graduates have been able to land well-paying jobs or enter graduate programmes locally and internationally. This is particularly so for graduate engineers, for example, given the Faculty’s internationally accredited status.  

We look forward to welcoming our new and returning students to campus in September. 

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About The UWI 

For more than 70 years The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has provided service and leadership to the Caribbean region and wider world. The UWI 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 across five campuses: Cave Hill in Barbados; Five Islands in Antigua and Barbuda; Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago; and an Open Campus. 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 2019. The UWI is the only Caribbean-based university to make the prestigious lists.

As part of its robust globalization agenda, The UWI has established partnering centres with universities in North America, Latin America, Asia, and Africa including the State University of New York (SUNY)-UWI Center for Leadership and Sustainable Development; the Canada-Caribbean Studies Institute with Brock University; the Strategic Alliance for Hemispheric Development with Universidad de los Andes (UNIANDES); 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. 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”)