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September 2012
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Message from the Principal: Starting a New Journey
In addition to building technical and professional competence, we recognise our duty in the academic community to instil a strong set of values and civic responsibility in our young charges, who we hope will be good citizens who carry themselves purposefully into their societies so as to improve the quality of life in whatever discipline they may have been trained. We try to accommodate students with good, upper-level matriculation qualifications, but unfortunately in some programmes, and because of intense competition, many qualified students are not accepted or may be given deferred entry. It is all very competitive, but it is the way of the world, and resilience and perseverance are virtues. They are the cornerstones of leadership, which is what Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nigel Harris asked students to aspire to at the Matriculation Ceremony. “Our goal,” he said, “is to create graduates who will be lifelong learners, who will have the people and leadership skills to cope with whatever the world throws at them.” The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Tertiary Education and Skills Training had reminded students of the Government’s major investment in their education but cautioned that, “GATE is not a right, it is a privilege which students in many developed countries do not have.” The economic climate will certainly demand agility at many levels. As we welcome our new students onto our Campus, and build a cadre of leaders for the next fifty years of our journey as an independent nation, it is important that we instil the virtues of discipline, respect and hard work. We become what we repeatedly do and thus values that are embedded in our UWI philosophy and that can build and sustain a great nation: integrity, honesty, generosity and care for those less fortunate, must be practised. Pro Vice Chancellor & Principal |
Two weeks ago, this St. Augustine Campus formally received just over 5,000 new students at our traditional matriculation ceremony. It was an occasion of great solemnity that we hoped conveyed the significance of the transition from secondary school to university.