September 2017


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I thought I should use this issue of UWI TODAY to bring more clarity to the matter of entry requirements for programmes at the St. Augustine Campus of The UWI. Some of the comments I have observed suggest that the underlying system and process are not generally well understood.

Part of the confusion arises from the use of the word “matriculation.” This is further compounded by the fact that its definition varies from one university to another. At Oxford University in England for example, matriculation is a formal ceremony that heralds the student’s membership of the University. Attendance is mandatory, so much so that students cannot sit University exams unless they matriculate. In those US universities where the term is referenced, matriculation refers to the process used to help new students adjust to university life and to plan their educational programme.

At The UWI, matriculation refers to a set of criteria that establishes the lowest possible educational requirements for entry into any programme offered by its Faculties. Applicants who have been accepted to a programme of study at The UWI would have exceeded the matriculation criteria and are therefore said to have “matriculated” into The University of the West Indies.

Matriculation, as described above, should not to be confused with the matriculation ceremony, which in true Caribbean style is often abbreviated to just “matriculation.” This is held every year at The UWI and, unlike its Oxford counterpart, is not mandatory.

The educational requirements for entry into a Faculty programme can exceed the matriculation criteria outlined above, as they often do. Indeed, regulations at The UWI stipulate that Faculty entry requirements cannot fall short of the matriculation criteria in any way.

As an example, the entry requirement into the Certificate of Public Administration (CPA) programme has traditionally been set at five CSEC passes, inclusive of English and Mathematics. However, for close to 20 years, the university-wide matriculation criteria always allowed for three CSEC passes, plus relevant experience for mature students. The criteria, codified in The UWI matriculation regulations, also define a mature student as an adult who is 21 years or older. In such cases, the University conducts a variety of assessments to determine the level of experience and verify the ability of the applicant to successfully complete the relevant programme. These assessments may include interviews, portfolio reviews and prior learning assessments.

The upshot of all of this is that the UWI CPA Programme that received a lot of a attention in the media a few weeks ago, has not lowered its entry requirements, but has expanded them by activating a long-standing mode of entry that was not well-known, so much so that people either thought it was a new criterion or, worse yet, one that reflected a lowering of the standards. None of that is true.

The public discourse that followed the unauthorised access to confidential Academic Board documents highlighted two underlying shortcomings in the public perception of what education entails.

The first shortcoming has to do with the public understanding of academic standards and quality. The second, and most unsavoury, is what seemed to me to be a condescending view of the value of prior learning. Implicit in this condescension, was what I saw as a reflection of the traditional stigma against vocational (trade) qualifications and, perhaps even worse, a bit of contempt against those who have not done well academically. Given space limitations, these matters will be addressed at another time.

The conversation in the public on the Faculty of Social Sciences news report incorrectly focused on entry qualifications as an indicator of academic programme quality. However, while entry qualifications are indeed important they are not, by themselves, a good measure of academic quality. In fact, employers, governments and educators have long recognised that programme quality is best measured by the quality of its graduates.

Measurement of educational quality is quite challenging, and despite the fact that education is almost as old as humanity, education experts are still musing over the best approaches to do this. Over time, however, “output quality” has been assessed on the basis of institutional reputation à la Oxford and Cambridge, perceived or measured graduate success in the society and through employers’ feedback.

In more recent times, formal accreditation and quality control processes have been used for this purpose. Even more recently, a best practice has emerged, whereby educational institutions explicitly define the output standards that detail the knowledge and competencies of their graduates in the respective disciplines. This is then used as a basis for the design and delivery of programmes, inclusive of entry qualifications, to ensure that any candidate so qualified would have a good chance of achieving the output standards upon successful completion of the programme.

As an example, for a BSc Degree programme in Electrical Engineering, the output standards are expected to establish the level of learning to be achieved in, say, analysing and designing electrical circuits, or generating software – thus addressing competencies in the technical areas associated with this field. In addition, accrediting agencies today insist that these standards should also address life skills such as teamwork and awareness of the impact of technology on the environment and society.

Let’s now look at prior learning and prior learning assessment (PLA). As a society, we are inordinately attached to academic certificates. For whatever reason, and I could suggest a few, we believe that certification creates our identity. However, this overdependence on certification as a major contributor to identity misses the real point of learning and development. I am sure that many could recount at least one situation where someone with little or no academic qualification but loads of experience has done exceedingly well in the workplace or achieved high standing in society.

The most quoted example is that of the renowned inventor Thomas Edison who was reportedly a poor student, described by his school master as “addled,” and who ended up being home-schooled by his mother, and grew to be a self-learner. But even right here, steelpan tuners Dr. Anthony Williams and Dr. Ellie Mannette, both recipients of UWI honorary degrees in recognition of their tremendous contributions to the steelpan, fell a bit short of their formal education but went on to contribute to and innovate in an area that science is only now truly beginning to understand. It is clear that classroom education, at least in its current form, is not enough to create the kind of citizen and, by extension, society, that we want.

Prior learning is a term used to represent the breadth and depth of knowledge, competence and skills acquired outside the classroom. PLA is the formal name applied to any process used to evaluate the degree of prior learning, and how it matches up against a set of agreed academic or occupational standards or learning outcomes. It is used, for example, to assess vocational or trade qualifications, academic achievement, professional status, suitability for recruitment, and in performance management. The assessment itself can take the form of traditional tests, interviews, which may include live demonstrations, and portfolio evaluation, as is done in many professional registration exercises. When used to represent a formal qualification consequent to an acceptable PLA performance, we use the term Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) for which an appropriate certificate may be awarded.

There are excellent local examples of PLAR locally. The best I have seen is at the National Training Agency of Trinidad and Tobago (NTA) where a meticulously detailed PLAR system has been designed and applied to a range of vocational areas in Trinidad and Tobago. The NTA awards Caribbean or National Vocational Qualifications (CVQs or NVQs) based on this assessment. Although traditionally heavily dependent on formal academic qualifications, The UWI has, as stated above, always included PLAR in its matriculation criteria but has only recently actually adopted the PLAR nomenclature.

PLAR touches on an extremely important goal for our national and regional education–the forging of a seamless education system. By definition, such a system recognizes the need for different levels of certification and recognition from primary, through secondary, technical vocational, associate degrees and diplomas and university degrees. However, it also recognises the need to infuse a high degree of mobility by creating mechanisms that would allow any citizen to move up and across from any level of certification to another. In a seamless education system, someone who was not successful at the SEA could eventually make it all the way to a PhD with a lot less effort than is currently required.

The discussion above is consistent with the new strategic plan for The UWI, which includes a mandate to increase access to the under-served and to contribute to the revitalizing of Caribbean society and economy. A seamless education system, or at least one that is more open than it is now, would optimize the training and education of the critical mass of citizens required for the revitalization process. The UWI intends to play its role in the march to this revitalized ‘Caribbea’ and looks forward to the understanding and support of all Caribbean citizens in this regard.

EDITORIAL TEAM

Campus Principal: Professor Brian Copeland
Director of Marketing and Communications: Dr. Dawn-Marie De Four-Gill
Editor: Vaneisa Baksh (Email: vaneisa.baksh@sta.uwi.edu )

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