The time is right

Vice-Chancellor Beckles describes the time as “right to address the matter of repositioning the University to be globally competitive and financially sustainable.” Only a reengineered UWI will be able to deliver more effectively on the region’s development agenda. The vision of a post-COVID UWI is a different kind of academy, one more agile in capturing opportunities to enhance its financial health.

A series of virtual strategic planning retreats throughout the 2020/2021 academic year provided the rich discourse, foresighting and deliberations that birthed the strategic framework for the Revenue Revolution, set to unfold officially from August 1, 2022.

Encouragingly, substantial steps already taken in 2020–2021 signal the University’s preparedness for the expected economic transformation process:

• Significant cuts in budgetary expenditure for 2020–2021, with more to come in 2021–2022.
• The fostering of intimate partnership relationships with major international donors to facilitate research and advocacy around the development agenda of the region.
• Building bonds of engagement with critical multilateral organisations to create new and innovative clusters of activity in areas of urgent regional need. These include climate change, digital transformation, innovation studies, public health management, food security, financial services, tourism enhancement, social justice for democratic advancement, and production technology development.
• Facilitating industry-academic partnerships to drive the process of regional economic diversification and competitiveness.