Pro Vice-Chancellor, Board for Undergraduate Studies
The Office of the Board for Undergraduate Studies (OBUS) has three broad responsibilities within the University:
Policy – responsibility to develop and coordinate policy initiatives to guide all aspects of undergraduate and sub-degree programming at The UWI and its regional and global affiliates. The Board for Undergraduate Studies (BUS) formally approves policy with respect to undergraduate studies, and provides formal approval of all new or revised undergraduate and sub-degree programming.
Quality – The Quality Assurance Unit, located within OBUS, articulates, implements and manages The UWI's academic quality assurance enhancement system.
Regionality – OBUS is charged with the preservation of the regional mandate of The UWI.
During the third year of The UWI's Triple A Strategic Plan, OBUS rolled out initiatives in three core areas:
These initiatives relate mostly to Strategic Objective AC3 under the ACCESS pillar.
The Quality Assurance Unit (QAU) organised 11 Quality Assurance Reviews during 2019/2020, as follows:
Due to COVID-19, reviews for MA English Language and MSc Instructional Design and Technology were rescheduled.
In addition to the Quality Assurance Reviews, the QAU conducted 14 Quality Evaluations.
The UWI Quality Policy (www.uwi.edu/quality) is an overarching policy framework designed to permeate all functions of university life in order to drive efficient delivery of services in the areas of teaching, learning, research, and student services, but also all operations of The UWI, internal as well as external. The baseline Staff and Students QP Surveys were completed during the reporting period and quality champions were trained across the university system.
It is important to note that quality improvements led by the respective campuses and Centre – Quality Management Teams (C-QMTs) and supported by the QAUs continued throughout the period. Implementation of the UWI Quality Policy achieved the following milestones during academic year 2019/2020:
In collaboration with the University Office of Planning (UOP), the students Quality Policy Survey was completed in November 2019. The staff Quality Policy Survey was completed in June 2019. Both these inaugural surveys serve as the baseline against which improvements in quality will be measured, making use of the bespoke survey instrument aligned with the five pillars of the UWI Quality Policy: 1. Fitness of Purpose, 2. Fitness for Purpose, 3. Value for Money, 4. Transformative Development of Students and Staff, 5. Adherence to High Standards.
Another critical component of the Quality Policy (QP) roll-out and implementation strategy is the use of interactive workshops to orient identified QP Champions on each campus and UWI Centre. The pilot workshop at Mona Campus was reported on in the previous reporting cycle. Workshops were conducted at each of the other campuses during the reporting period, while a Quality Orientation was held at the new Five Islands Campus as described below. Altogether, more than 150 Quality Policy Champions have been trained.
The inaugural UWI Quality Day took place on November 14, 2019; the day that marks International Quality Day. Each of the campuses undertook activities to sensitize students and staff to the UWI Quality Policy. A Workshop and a Quality Day/Orientation was thought to be more appropriate for the newest campus, Five Islands; this was led by Pro Vice-Chancellor Landis. The Mona Campus was adjudged the winner for having hosted the most innovative student engagements to mark UWI Quality Day, which included a song competition won by Mona student Javaughn Thompson. Mr. Thompson's winning entry has been adopted as the “UWI Quality Song” and is housed at the UWI Quality Policy website (www.uwi.edu/quality/pg-action.php).
Professor Winston Moore and Professor R. Clive Landis with awardees - Cave Hill
Professor Winston Moore, Deputy Principal, Cave Hill with the Quality Day Prize Winner at Cave Hill
Postgraduate Student receiving his prize for participating in World Quality Day Survey at St Augustine
Professor Dale Webber, Pro Vice-Chancellor & Principal, Mona, shows off his quality drumming talents
Professor Stafford Griffith, Pro Vice-Chancellor, & Principal, UWI Five Islands engages workshop participants
Professor Clive Landis speaking at the QAU staff Training -UWI Five Islands
A significant change during the period under review was the COVID-19 exigency, which required transition to online teaching and learning, campus lockdowns, and work-from-home arrangements across UWI campuses. Significantly, campuses had to develop alternative online assessment proposals, and all QAU officers were required to participate in the special AQAC meetings and deliberations to interrogate and finalise the revised assessment plans.
During Semester 2 of the period under review, the Senior Programme Officer (SPO) in the QAU at Cave Hill led development of a hybrid approach for the conduct of QARs in a pandemic, with emphasis on the use of virtual/online platforms to conduct external stakeholder meetings.
Among the considerations of feasible alternatives/approaches were the following:
The draft hybrid QAR proposal was circulated in May 2020 and finalised by QA Officers; PVC Undergraduate Studies and PVC Graduate Studies & Research later received and accepted the proposal for implementation in academic year 2020/2021.
During the year, OBUS continued to offer and administer a range of regional undergraduate scholarships. These were important means of supporting the brightest and best students from across the region wish to attend any campus of The UWI.
The categories of UWI-funded scholarships and the number awarded were as follows:
174 UGC-funded regional scholarships were awarded through OBUS in 2019–2020, with an approximate total value of US$ $1,764,991 million.
In addition, a total of 169 donor-sponsored scholarships were administered by OBUS in 2019/2020 (up to March 31, 2020) with a total approximate value of US$429,611.11, as follows:
Mona 2019 Open Scholarship Breakfast
During the year under review, the PVC Undergraduate Studies continued to serve on several committees and Boards including:
He was also engaged in several local and international media presentations, including the BBC, Condé Nast, Antigua Observer, Jamaica Gleaner, Caribbean Tourism Organisation, WVIP Radio New York, and the Barbados Central Bank “Caribbean Economic Forum (July 28 2020): Reviving Caribbean Tourism in the Face of COVID”.
He served as the UWI representative on the Council of the CXC and UWI representative on the Council of the School Examinations Committee (SEC).
Members of the QAU were active participants in the transitioning to emergency online teaching and learning and alternative exam assessments on their respective Campuses, because of the COVID-19 restrictions. The Senior Programme Officers at the respective campuses collaborated officers to revise the QAU website, an initiative coordinated by Dr. Sandra Gift.
The SPOs collaborated on the training of Student Members of QA Review teams (SMQART) workshop, March 3- 4, 2020 via Zoom. Dr. Anna Kasafi Perkins, SPO in the Mona QAU, led this QAU initiative. Officers' engagement with this initiative included working collaboratively to finalise Dr. Perkins' initial proposal, developing workshop training materials, facilitating workshop sessions, and arranging for the implementation of the planned practicum whereby SMQARTs will audit a QAR conducted at the Campus closest to them.
Members of the QAU were active participants in the work of the Caribbean Area Network for Quality Assurance in Tertiary Education (CANQATE), and worked to promote a culture of quality assurance in partner Tertiary Level Institutions of the Caribbean.
The UWI Quality Education Forum, Volume No. 24 (January 2020), a refereed Journal on Teaching and Learning published by OBUS, was issued on the theme, “Academic Literacies in Higher Education”.
Volume 21 of The UWI Quality Circle, the newsletter of the QAU, was co-edited by Dr. Kay Thompson and Mr. Gregory Jones. This issue focused on Implementing The UWI Quality Policy – Walking the Talk. The QAU also took the opportunity to celebrate, in its centre spread, the distinguished contribution to quality by Dr. Sandra Gift, who retired at the end of the year under review.
The SPO, Cave Hill, is, by invitation, a member of the Editorial Committee for the revamped Regional Headquarters/Vice-Chancellery Newsletter that highlights Centre units and their work. For the first volume in 2019 the SPO contributed a special feature on the Owen S. Arthur Special collection, featuring an interview with The Hon. Owen Seymour Arthur, former Prime Minister of Barbados.
OBUS staff members continued research and publication in their own areas of academic interest, presented lectures, and gave seminars or conference presentations. A notable contribution during the reporting period in light of the pandemic was an Ethics Handbook for Caribbean Policymakers and Leaders who may be facing ethical dilemmas in response to COVID-19, written by the SPO Mona Campus, Dr. Anna Perkins and PVC Undergraduate Studies, Professor Clive Landis:
This ethics handbook is available for free download at the UWI COVID-19 Task Force Website: https://uwi.edu/covid19/response
A Review Week in the 13th week of teaching in Semesters 1 and 2 was approved for implementation during academic year 2019/2020.
As a result of anticipated disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, BUS approved a waiver of the matriculation requirement for CAPE students applying for admission in academic year 2020/2021. The waiver allowed campuses to make firm offers to students based on their first year of CAPE results. Caribbean Ministers of Education attending the Emergency Meeting of the CARICOM Committee on Human and Social Development (COHSOD) on May 8, 2020, unanimously endorsed the revised matriculation policy.
In recognition of the unexpected imposition of changes to teaching and assessment due to COVID-19, the Board for Undergraduate Studies and the Board for Graduate Studies & Research approved a Fail Minus Penalty (FMP) joint policy for students who failed any courses in Semester 2 of academic year 2019/2020. Students were permitted to repeat failed courses without academic penalty.
BUS considered The Multilingual Policy Initiative at its meeting of May 2020.
BUS approved a change in nomenclature of the English Foundation Courses/Programmes to Academic Literacies Programme. BUS also approved the course outline for FOUN1301 Law, Governance and Society in the Caribbean.
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