If Latin America and the Caribbean may not be ideally positioned to follow developed countries seeking to ensure that their higher education systems return to normalcy at the earliest possible time, some institutions in the region would appear to be moving to ensure that they are not left too far behind.
Last week the University of the West Indies (UWI) announced that it had commenced planning for a new “financial culture” that will underpin the financial management of the institution in the prevailing Covid-19 climate. A release from the institution stated that its executive management team had embarked on a planning retreat at the conclusion of which it intended to “roll out a new operational plan to deal with the financial challenges facing the institution, as a result of shortfalls in expected revenues.”
UWI stated in its release that its action was a response to the fact that “many students and governments are experiencing difficulties in meeting financial obligations to the university, in respect of tuition fees and related economic costs for teaching and learning.”
At the centre of the retreat, the university says, was a presentation for discussion and approval to be made by the institution’s Vice Chancellor Sir Hilary Beckles titled “Operation Revenue Revolution” which “seeks to confront and improve the financial difficulties facing the institution and to transform its business management culture.”
At the heart of the initiative UWI says, will be moves to cut expenditure and to increase its revenues by ten per cent each year over the coming three years, thereafter significantly eliminating cash shortfalls that frustrate operations. It says that part of the initiative to eliminate shortfalls will be to assign each of its campuses the task of implementing bankable projects in an effort to strengthen the university’s entrepreneurial functions and rewards.”
One of the region-wide concerns at this juncture will be whether the university’s operational plan to respond to its cash crisis will be to increase student fees, a development that is likely to concern students, parents, and guardians, in the light of the significant job losses and consequential loss of income that is being experienced across the region.
Leaving aside regional concerns over the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic for higher education, the respective countries in the Caribbean also face the challenge of restoring their respective state school systems to normalcy following what, in some instances, has been Covid-19-driven schools closure for more than a year.
