SUNDAY 3rd may, 2015 – UWI TODAY
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its oversight The University Inn and Conference Centre (UICC); which has been invaluable
in offering accommodation on the campus grounds. The occupancy of the University
Inn in 2015, thus far, has exceeded that of last year (2014), and we expect this to continue
for the rest of the year. This is a great revenue generating initiative of the Campus, and
we do intend for this project to be successful looking ahead. The benefits derived from
this operation are in keeping with our drive to continuously seek ways to secure financial
viability as we expand our portfolio and services.
Delivering on our Promise: Total Quality Management
The UWI prides itself in offering the highest standards in education. This can only
be achieved by implementing stringent quality measures that allows us to maintain in
the strictest sense, policies and procedures in our management model that result in best
practice. In this regard, our
Quality Assurance Unit (QAU)
over the reporting period,
conducted 5 Quality Assurance Reviews and 10 Quality Evaluations. In addition, our
Centre
for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL)
over the past year, has had 23 members
of our teaching staff successfully completed The UWI Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching
and Learning (CUTL); 2350 courses were evaluated via the Student Evaluation of Courses
and Lecturers (SECL); 31 programmes and 607 courses were reviewed; and 69 workshops
conducted with a particular focus on the use of technology.
Also, as part of our thrust for excellence our
Institutional Effectiveness Unit (IEU)
appointed 127 StaffMembers in 32 Quality LeadershipTeams trained in Service Excellence
Leadership; produced 17 Service Charters by Non-Academic Offices; engaged 5 Non-
Academic Units in a pilot project tomap and automate their operational processes, which
is expected to increase their operational efficiency by 30-40%. As an institutionwheremuch
is investedmuch is expected and it is our duty to work fervently to constantly monitor and
evaluate our performance; sometimes having to be innovative in making adjustments to
the delivery of our promgrammes to better service our students and the public at large.
As many would be aware, one of the regulatory bodies used to determine and validate
the quality of our performance and products here at The UWI is the Accreditation Council
of Trinidad and Tobago (ACTT). In a Report presented by the ACTT to UWI STA in July 2014
The UWI St. Augustine Campus was described as a,
“highquality institution,…….
one that
continues to secure significant capital investment despite the impact of the global economic
crisis; that despite difficulties in recruitment, we possess a high caliber of teaching and research
staff at all levels; and the team was particularly encouraged by the general acceptance of the
positive role played by quality assurance on the Campus: they observed steady growth in the
acceptance of a culture of active engagement with quality assurance activities”.
Bolstering our Research Agenda
in the Service of Development
Intrinsic to the undertakings of all highly acclaimed higher education institutions is
its ability to facilitate and conduct ongoing research programmes that would inevitably
improve the quality of life for the citizenry. We at The UWI St. Augustine have taken this
mandate very seriously and have made deliberate strides in this direction.
The UWI-Trinidad and Tobago Research and Development Impact Fund (RDI
Fund), established in 2012, continues to be one of the main initiatives to advance the
research agenda.
Since its inception, the RDI Fund has issued 2 Calls for Proposals, for
which 22 projects have been approved with a total grant funding of TT$14,343,228. While
the projects are all at varying stages of implementation, the projects supported by the
RDI Fund are already starting to achieve real development impact, attracting millions of
dollars in counterpart funding. To this end, although the RDI Fund can be considered as
a very young multi-million dollar Research and Development Impact Fund, it is already
being cited as an emergent Best Practice model for research funding in the region. This
has been a noteworthy accomplishment for such a recent initiative. We continue to have
confidence in this research agenda and we envision many future benefits not only to
ourselves but more importantly to the people of this region. As a result of this exercise,
The UWI STA Campus produced the first annual report of The UWI-Trinidad and Tobago
Research and Development Impact Fund (RDI Fund). In it, we accounted not only for
the money that was spent, but also the impact of our expenditure. The ultimate value of
conducting research is determined in many ways by how our research has impacted the
lives of the people we serve.
Knowledge Mobilization & Outreach
For many years The UWI has been looked upon as the reservoir for opinion and
knowledge. The world of academia has always provided a strong footing as a sounding
board for deliberations on public issues and challenges. As a result of this,
‘Distinguished
Lectures & Professorial Lectures’
were conceptualized. This was seen as an ideal way
to exert our efforts to mobilize knowledge and communicate ideas relevant to national,
regional and international issues in a timelymanner. During the last academic year we held
several distinguished and professorial lectures to include the following -
the President of
the Republic of Haiti, His Excellency Michel Martelly, the Prime Minister of St. Vincent
and the Grenadines, Dr. The Honourable Ralph E. Gonsalves
, Professor Beatrice Boufoy-
Bastick, and Professor Christopher Oura among others.
Principal Sankat receives the report of the mid-term review from ACTT Executive Director,
Michael Bradshaw – July 2014
Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. The Honourable Ralph E. Gonsalves, delivers
3rd CARICOM Lecture at UWI STA
Participants of the Workshop on Tertiary Level Education in Agriculture: Building
Human Resource Capacities in the Caribbean held on 29 – 30 July 2014
