Principal's Report - Mona Campus

Professor Dale Webber

Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal

The Mona Campus responded on every front for the academic year 2019/2020, without compromise to its full operations and delivery to students, to the national good and to supporting the ONE UWI enterprise. There was a great deal of effort to relate the services offered as a tertiary level institution of teaching, research and outreach back to the widest community of learners and recipients. In doing so, despite the trials, this year brought the Campus closer to its stakeholders in every way. The year also put the Campus on notice for the kind of challenges it must expect in the future, thus directing it to raise the ante on goals as a way forward.

Access

  • The single most critical challenge that faced the University and the Mona Campus was delivering and enabling access for all students in the core business of teaching, learning and research given the critical requirement to observe the raft of COVID-19 protocols. Migrating all courses online required the leadership of the Mona Information Technology Services (MITS) to quickly realign and redeploy existing on-premises ICT infrastructure (server-computer, Network-Internet and storage) and off-premises ICT cloud services to drive the creation, delivery and online access to digital teaching content.
  • Critical to this was the implementation of online modalities for student assessment and examinations. This was achieved through (1) resource realignment, (2) staff training and development, (3) the development of processes and manuals to streamline the management of course and examination information, and (4) commitment and cooperation of students and staff at the Mona Campus.
  • The Office of the Principal, supported by MITS, spearheaded the acquisition of tablets and laptops for students. These were configured by MITS for ready access to Campus e-learning platforms and information services. The devices were disseminated to students identified by each Faculty and managed by the Campus Library.
  • A survey instrument developed by the Faculties of Science and Technology and Social Sciences with online delivery and survey analytics administered by MITS informed this initiative. (The survey took into account the bias induced by the online modality of delivery). These challenges were addressed in large part with the assistance of internet and mobile data service providers (Digicel and FLOW) that provided specific data plans for students and zero-rated access to the Virtual Learning Platforms (OurVLE and Blackboard Collaborate).

Alignment

  • Jamaica needing all hands on deck to battle this unanticipated scourge led to the Ministry of Health and Wellness' (MOHW's) call for volunteers that included a request for the involvement of the Faculty of Medical Sciences (FMS). The call was answered, initially by students in the MBBS programme on March 20, 2020 and later extended to all other schools in the FMS. The MBBS students, however, accounted for the majority of volunteers.
  • After preparatory work, The UWI/MOHW Health Corps initiative officially began operation on April 6, 2020 with 70 volunteers. The operations took place within the already established Call Centre on the Mona Campus, the latter requiring some programming and networking to fit within the MOHW's national operation.
  • The students played varying roles in the success of this programme such as call agents, floor/ shift supervisors, and human resources personnel among others. They worked under the supervision of a coordinator Dr. Tana Ricketts-Roomes, a Clinician and member of faculty.
  • The volunteers prepared standard operating procedures and documents after being trained by the MOHW.
  • While their initial mandate was to service the MOHW's quarantine app and make call-backs to members of the public who contacted the MOHW's COVID hotline, their role evolved into helping the public on a wide range of health and social issues.

Agility

  • The Mona Campus prioritized Restoring Financial Health, initiating a Caring, Accountable, Motivated Professional Team (CAMP) and advancing the Digitization of its services.
  • In October 2015, the Campus entered into a 20- year Finance Build Operate Transfer Agreement with North Star Development Jamaica Limited for the establishment of the Campus' own Well Water Supply system. The Agreement realized the second Public Private Partnership project undertaken by the Mona Campus. To form the partnership, the Campus leveraged its potable water resource to acquire critical infrastructure to not only extract and treat the resource but to also secure a reduced cost for a Campus water supply. Estimated savings for potable water supply for the period August 2019 to July 2020 were JMD $182,895,341.70
  • In our recognition of contributions to the University, more than 100 members of academic, administrative, professional, technical and support services staff of The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus were honoured for their years of service to the institution for periods exceeding 15, 21, 30 or 40 years. The Annual Long Service Awards Ceremony was held on Thursday, January 30, 2020, at the Mona Visitors Lodge and Conference Centre. This year's Long Service Awards Ceremony was particularly special as the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles and Principal of The UWI Mona Campus, Professor Dale Webber, both received awards for 40 and 30 years of service, respectively.