SUNDAY 3rd may, 2015 – UWI TODAY
23
Strengthening Employee Engagement
The UWI St. Augustine Campus has benefited substantially from having committed
staff at all levels of the organization; many having contributed for a significant period.
It is healthy for any dynamic institution like ours to continuously drive and support the
enhancement and natural progression of our employees. The ongoing development
of staff must not be taken for granted, and only with astute planning and intervention
can we be assured of maintaining a high level of staff performance. In keeping with that
philosophy the university has incorporated a series of initiatives that ultimately lead to a
motivated, dedicated, vibrant employee body. Attention is given to training so that staff
may be prepared for advancement within the organization.
TheUWI Career Transitioning
and Succession Planning - Open Day
is a creative initiative that seeks to offer staff an
opportunity to prepare themselves for possible progression to higher level positions
within The UWI.
Further, staff members are encouraged to be expressive and involved in the decision
making process, and the advent of the initiative
Coffeewith the Principal
over the last year,
provided an open forumgeared towards hearing the views and ideas of all staff (academic
and non-academic) for taking our Campus forward together.
The UWI St. Augustine
Campus
Family Day
was significant in building comradeship, while at the same time it
allowed us to pay homage to our more than 50 years of history as a UWI Campus and the
wonderful memories we created along the way.
Considerable effort is devoted to providing opportunities to demonstrate to our
staff the management’s support and appreciation for their professional contributions.
This component was certainly accomplished in hosting the
Campus Management
Retreat
while at the same time streamlining our focus on building as a team, financial
sustainability in our operations; managing our talent at all levels; and ultimately creating a
high performance organization that is efficient, innovative, and impactful in a positive way
on our society. The UWI has been privileged to have had employees who have given 25, 30,
35, and even over 40 years of service. This unprecedented achievement augurs well for the
environment that embellishes a conducive atmosphere that has resulted in such longevity
of service; and in this regard the
LongServiceAwards
, together with the
Retirement Award
Ceremony
held in their honour could only have been described as a small token used
to confer The UWI’s eternal gratitude. Another memorable and fun occasion that further
allowed valuable bonding time was the
14
th
Biennial UWI Staff Inter-Campus Games
where we saw the coming together of academic as well as administrative colleagues and
the building of teamwork, friendships and partnerships across Faculties and Departments.
Collectively all these endeavours formed the backbone of The UWI St. Augustine Campus,
it created the framework by which we have operated over the past academic period and
provided the mechanism for our continued upward mobility and progress.
In closing, I submit that the academic year 2013/2014 was truly a remarkable year for
the St. Augustine Campus of The University of the West Indies. As the largest and premier
higher education institution inTrinidad andTobagowe havemade significant strides in our
core areas of function including, teaching and learning, research and innovation and service
to our diverse stakeholders across Trinidad and Tobago, the wider Caribbean region, and
the world over. As the St. Augustine Campus has done for the last 54 years, and the regional
University of theWest Indies has done for over 6 decades, we move forward with renewed
commitment to continue serving our stakeholders with excellence and distinction!
I also take this opportunity to thank all of our students, staff, alumni and stakeholders
for supporting The UWI St. Augustine Campus. As we continue to work together, ours will
be a collective success; it will be the tangible manifestation of the power of cooperation
to build a better Trinidad and Tobago and by extension a great Caribbean region!
More information
on these initiatives
and others, can be
found in our Annual
Report, in addition
to the Reports from
our Faculties.
To view the 2013/ 2014 reports, please log onto
Recipients of the Campus Research Awards
Scenes from the 2014 Family Day
Winners of the Inaugural Service Excellence Awards
