Pro Vice-Chancellor's Report - Graduate Studies and Research

The graduate studies and research portfolios were fully merged in 2016, and the School for Graduate Studies and Research completed 78% of the 2012– 2017 Strategic Plan objectives. Some important objectives, including the Graduate GPA Policy, the Progress Tracker system, The UWI research/researcher database and continued operationalisation of the research clusters, have been adopted into the 2017– 2022 work plan.

Teaching, Learning and Student Development

Graduate Programmes

The Board approved 20 new graduate programmes, including the MEd Measurement, Evaluation and Assessment, MSc Data Science and MPhil/PhD Biomedical Engineering, while 24 programmes were revised, renewed or restructured.

Graduate Student Registration

Enrolment in graduate programmes declined by 4% to 9,870, largely due to a significant 36% decline for the Cave Hill Campus. The Open and Mona campuses experienced increases of 13% and 4%, respectively, with the online Management programmes and the Doctor of Education (EdD) in Educational Leadership programmes continuing to be among the more sought after offerings in the Open Campus.

Scholarships

A 37% increase in the UWI Graduate Scholarships budget to BDS$1,926,835 allowed for 36 three- year awards to research students across the three residential campuses. An additional scholarship was also granted for a student registered for the EdD programme in the Open Campus.

Funding and support continued for the four scholarships awarded under the UWI12+2 scholarship scheme to PhD students from St. Lucia, the Bahamas, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the British Virgin Islands.

One student was awarded a CCRIF Scholarship, valued at US$11,000, to pursue studies at the Mona Campus. Under two agreements signed between The UWI and the OAS, 18 scholarships valued at US$7,000 each, were awarded to students from OAS Member States registered for select graduate degree programmes at all campuses.

Inter-Campus and International Collaboration

Several activities to encourage international and inter-campus collaboration for UWI researchers, and thereby to facilitate the operation of The UWI as one regional institution, were supported during the reporting period. These included provision of support for the visit of two members of staff from each of the other campuses to participate in The UWI Mona Research Days activities; convening a meeting of the Heads of The UWI Centre-funded research entities to highlight the importance of these entities to the structure and function of the University and to identify synergies and possible opportunities for partnership; co-sponsorship of an historic Outreach Event staged by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the staging of an Exhibition at the event, under the theme "Investigating Climate; Inspiring Change!" which provided an account of the contributions of The UWI to Climate Change research.

The UWI Research Ethics Committee

The UWI Research Ethics Committee received reports on the proposal submissions considered by each Campus, with the 2016/2017 academic year reflecting 633 applications being received, reviewed and processed (74 from Cave Hill, 266 from Mona, 288 from St. Augustine and 5 from the Open Campus). Issues of exemptions and fast-tracking, as well as graduate student research, are areas being reviewed, with a view to updating the UWI Policy on Research Ethics.

Intellectual Property (IP) and Commercialisation

The UWI Intellectual Property Committee was operationalised, and two new Sub-Committees convened—the Invention Disclosures Committee, and the Commercialisation Committee.

A survey and analysis of all patents currently held by The University of the West Indies was undertaken to include identification of the researchers, date patent was applied for, when and where it was registered, cost of registration, annual patent registration cost, and progress towards commercialisation of the protected product or process.

Increased Visibility of Regional Research Entities

As part of a marketing and communications project to highlight the activities of the regional research entities, a thirty-minute video was produced to reflect the research being conducted at the entities, with a focus specifically on activities geared towards fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Goals, and activities which are in keeping with The UWI's Strategic Plan. Discussions will be held with Caribbean Airlines with a view to having the video included in their inflight entertainment package. The video production will also be aired on public display screens across the various campuses. Research material from the entities will also be placed in magazines such as Caribbean Beat, the inflight magazine of Caribbean Airlines.

Support for Regional Governments

Dominica
The Office completed and submitted a 212-page report to the Government of Dominica and the Japan-Caribbean Climate Change Project to guide the selection of safer resettlement sites for the communities impacted, with loss of life, by Hurricane Erika. The Government has begun housing construction on some of the resettlement sites chosen, and has invited the University to undertake a second study which provides guidelines on the housing characteristics required and on the environmental impacts of the construction.