 Charting the Strategic Direction
It’s been ten months since Professor Sir Hilary Beckles was installed as The UWI’s 8th Vice-Chancellor. There’s been little time for settling into his new capacity. In today’s challenging environmental conditions it’s tougher times ahead for the leader of any Caribbean institution, but more so for one faced with steering four campuses spread across 17 territories. Amid all of this, Sir Hilary must also navigate The University as it transitions out of its current strategic plan which expires in 2017 and plot the next business cycle.
From the onset of his appointment, he declared his main focus is to make The UWI one again – to fix the fragmentation that has resulted over the years. Shortly after his first message to all staff, he enumerated his vision into six main priorities:
- Wealth creation and social development
- Promoting an anti-recessionary action plan for the Caribbean
- Caribbean nation-building and social justice
- Sharpening UWI’s role as a Caribbean cultural force
- Deepening and strengthening UWI as a regional institution
- Expanding UWI as a global brand of education
Already he has outlined in a number of meetings the framework and vision of the next Strategic Plan, 2017-2022. The three major objectives he said will be facilitating the economic recovery of the region while advancing the financial sustainability of the university; globalising the UWI brand and reputation; expanding access to the tertiary sector in the region. He referred to this as the Triple A vision- Alignment of industry and academic for wealth creation: Access expansion: and Alertness to global opportunities.
One of Sir Hilary’s key strategic tools in these early days of executing his vision has been the expeditious establishment of specialized Task Forces which bring together multi-disciplinary experts. These Task Forces have successfully supported crisis and developmental issues within The UWI and across the region. In September 2015, the first was appointed to provide technical disaster management support to the immediate recovery needs of the island of Dominica, following damage sustained by the impact of Tropical Storm Erika. In October, a similar multi-disciplinary Task Force was deployed when the Bahamas was left vulnerable and battered by Hurricane Joaquin. Now as the region faces the growing threat of the Zika virus, another technical team will leverage The University’s expertise and coordinate efforts with regional governments, health ministries and other agencies to combat the virus.
Over the next few weeks much of his attention will be engaged in the hectic round of Campus Council meetings, leading up to The University Council Meeting in April - his first during his tenure as Vice-Chancellor. Sir Hilary holds strong views on how The University ought to engage and participate within Caribbean civilization as it seeks to be relevant and impactful. Because of this we can certainly expect to see UWI initiatives aimed at harnessing community internally, a more activist university, increased stewardship intended to drive growth in the region and aggressive efforts to deepen global penetration.
The global agenda has already been activated. The university’s first PVC for Global Affairs takes up office on June 1st, 2016. This week the VC will host a team from Suzhou, China, in order to finalize plans for the creation of a UWI Campus site in China, and a China Institute for Software Technology at UWI. These are revolutionary initiatives designed to transform UWI in the years ahead. |
