SUNDAY 5TH APRIL, 2015 – UWI TODAY
3
EDITORIAL TEAM
Campus Principal
Professor Clement Sankat
Director of Marketing and Communications
Dr Dawn-Marie De Four-Gill
EDITOR
Mr Joel Henry
CONTACT US
The UWI Marketing and Communications Office
Tel: (868) 662-2002, exts. 82013 / 83997 or email:
OUR CAMPUS
Law Faculty takes
best team prize at
CCJ competition
The Faculty of Law
at the St Augustine Campus may be young but it’s already
making its mark. A team from the new faculty launched in 2014 has won the prize
for the “Best Team from an Academic Institution” at the Caribbean Court of Justice
(CCJ) VII Annual International Law Moot Court Competition. The competition
was held on March 13 at the CCJ headquarters in Port of Spain.
This is the secondMooting Title for the Faculty of Law. In April 2014, another
teamwon the “Best New Team” prize out of 126 teams at the 55th Phillip C. Jessup
International Law Moot Competition held in Washington DC.
There were eight participants in this year’s CCJ VII International Law
competition, made up of law schools, faculties and departments from the region.
The Eugene Dupuch Law School of The Bahamas won the overall best team prize.
The CCJ’s Annual International Law Moot Court Competition was inaugurated
in 2009 to encourage law students to become familiar with the Revised Treaty of
Chaguaramas, the instruments establishing the CCJ and other areas of international
law.
The UWI St Augustine’s team advisor was Alicia Elias-Roberts, Deputy Dean
at the Faulty of Law and the teammembers included Shane Pantin as lead counsel,
Maria Sawh as junior counsel and Neetu Lalsingh as the researcher/reserve.
Building Bridges to the World of Work
Through Student Internships
FROM the Principal
On March 5th, 2015,
I was pleased to sign
the Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU)
betweenTheUniversity
of the West Indies, St
Augustine Campus and
the Institute of Banking
and Finance (IBF) of
Trinidad and Tobago to
officially launch the IBF
Internship Programme.
Though this is not the first such programme, nor
will it be the last, it comes as a timely reminder of
the important role the private sector can play in
facilitating the development of our students for the
world of work upon graduation from the Institute.
Through such mentored and structured
internships, students develop the knowledge and
understanding of the business environment they
wish to enter upon graduation. They develop
interpersonal and communication skills and,
importantly, they become much more confident
young men and women. These internship
programmes can bring considerable benefits to
employers as they cultivate an early relationship
with our students while at the same time, moulding,
observing and evaluating their potential in the
workplace as possible future permanent employees.
Employers can get the best andmost talented of our
students early in their university life. The young
people at the university demonstrate considerable
creativity which can be applied in the workplace,
bringing fresh eyes and ears to problem-solving, and
an eagerness to be agents of change; even though still
young and inexperienced, their thoughts can lead
to improvements in the workplace. The benefits are
reciprocal: the opportunity provided for students
to become aware of the challenges that are faced in
the working world can shape project work in the
classroom. This feedback loop will certainly add to
the expediency of problem solving. Many industries
and businesses have little or no R & D support, but
through our students/interns, our university is in
a better position to address the on-going, current
needs of the business, manufacturing, industrial
and public sectors.
We never allow our doctors to practice
medicine without an internship period. This is
an example of best-practice all professions should
adopt, with our support at The UWI. I have often
said to my academic colleagues, that while the time
our students spend in the classroom is beneficial, of
more impact on their personal lives and readiness for
the world of work, is their involvement in industry/
enterprises.
I can reflect on my own engineering internship
periods at the Demerara Bauxite Company Limited
(DEMBA), where many of my Trinidad and Tobago
classmates from St Augustine also accompanied me
for such internships. I have heard positive stories of
internships at TEXACO/PETROTRIN or at T&TEC.
Engineering companies had these in the past, but
I am not sure how much of this is still done. This
partnership between UWI and the IBF is therefore
pivotal in providing quality and relevant training
to develop the human resource of our country. In
this particular situation, the collaboration offers
employment opportunities to our undergraduate
students enrolled in the Departments of Management
Studies and Economics in the Faculty of Social
Sciences. A real “ground breaker” here!
I have often reflected on how the responsibility
for education of our students at the university should
be shared. Certainly a partnership of parents and
students themselves, where they can afford it, our
Regional Governments, the university and the private
sector is the way forward. All stakeholders benefit
from such education. The private sector must be at
this table and let me thank sincerely those companies
in Trinidad and Tobago who do this on a regular
basis; more can make a great contribution through
internship training programmes for our students. The
costs are small compared to the benefits to be derived,
for both firm and student.
Finally a word to our students and their parents
- I recalled several years ago, an internship programme
was designed for students of The UWI to spend a
full year in the oil company PETROTRIN prior to
graduation. There were few takers, as everyone is
in a hurry to get their degrees, to graduate. This is
understandable, but the opportunity to get world-of-
work experience in industry prior to graduation, can
set those who had such training apart from graduates
without, as they would already have had a head-start
in the world of work. So to my students, I say, use the
opportunity presented to get such experience and as
the saying goes, “make haste slowly!” You can emerge
a big winner!
Clement K. Sankat
Pro Vice-Chancellor & Principal
UWI, OWTU reach agreement
Whilst negotiations continue,
some headway was made as The UWI and the
Oilfield’s Workers Trade Union (OWTU) formally signed a collective agreement
for the campus’ daily and weekly paid workers. The agreement, which deals with
the period 2008 to 2010, is the first between The UWI and the OWTU since the
trade union became the official bargaining agent for these workers in 2009. in 2009.
It was signed on March 4.
Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal Clement K. Sankat used the
occasion to reaffirm his commitment to providing an educational institution that
recognises the value and well-being of the staff. He expressed the view that The
UWI can only achieve excellence and success if both bodies work together in a
timely manner.
Following the signing ceremony, the OWTU along with representatives of the
other unions on campus, joined the university management for a luncheon hosted
by the Campus Principal.
ON THE DOTTED LINE: President General of the OWTU Ancel Roget
(left) and Campus Principal Clement Sankat sign the new agreement.
CCJ President, Sir Dennis Byron (centre), sits with Alicia Elias-Roberts
(to his left) and the award-winning Law Faculty team.
