(Trinidad Guardian) The University of the West Indies (UWI) St Augustine campus is embarking on a strategic planning exercise to align graduates with job opportunities to drive T&T’s economy in years to come. On Monday, principal of the UWI St Augustine campus Prof Clement Sankat, vice chancellor of the university Prof E Nigel Harris and Science, Technology and Tertiary Education Minister Fazal Karim revealed plans for tertiary education at a meeting at the International Financial Centre, Port-of-Spain.
Following a round-table discussion, the group dealt with the setting up of UWI’s south campus in Debe, the gift of lands provided by the T&T Government to the university, and the possibility of UWI having links to other campuses that inform the labour market. Harris spoke about two parcels of land, comprising 300 acres at Debe and Orange Grove, Tacarigua, which were gifts from the T&T Government. On a sprawling 100-acre parcel of sugar cane land in Debe, Harris said UWI would construct a university on a phased basis.
Before the university is built, the Government will have to take into consideration the demographics, environment and programmes that are more responsive to industries in the South. The first phase is expected to begin within the next six months with the construction of a Law faculty. Harris anticipates that those faculties will provide not only undergraduate but also post-graduate programmes in Law. The university will also provide teaching facilities, a library and live-in recreational facilities that will be synergetic with the Faculty of Law.
The land will be officially handed over to UWI on February 24. Harris said second- and third-year students who were required to pursue their Law degrees at UWI’s Cave Hill campus in Barbados can now add UWI’s south campus as an option with the Mona campus in Jamaica as well. “The plan is that the St Augustine and Mona sites will evolve into full-fledged faculties of law over a two- to three-year period,” Harris said. Having invited proposals for a project management firm to convert this dream into reality, Sankat said construction of the new campus would be done in a judicious way, bearing in mind that capital funds are not easily available.
“Remember we will be going on lands that were previously sugar cane and there is an infrastructure requirement such as electricity, water, drainage and roadways.” Sankat was unable to say what the final cost of the university would be. Before the university turns the sod for the campus on May 24, Harris said, the learning institution intended to bring to students a blended approach with distance and face-to-face learning.
