Pro Vice-Chancellor, Board for Undergraduate Studies
The Office of the Board for Undergraduate Studies (OBUS) has three broad responsibilities:
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.
Quality – The Quality Assurance Unit (QAU), 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 period under review, OBUS rolled out initiatives in three core areas:
These initiatives relate mostly to Strategic Objective AC3 under the ACCESS pillar: Improving the Quality of Teaching, Learning and Student Development.
The QAU organised sixteen Quality Assurance Reviews:
Cave Hill Campus
Department of Management
Studies, Computer Science
Mona Campus
Department of Economics, Physics
Department, Department of Literatures in English,
Chemistry Department
Open Campus
MA English Language, MSc
Instructional Design and Development, Social Work,
Youth Development Work
St. Augustine
Department of Mechanical and
Manufacturing Engineering, Department of Geomatics and Land Management, Department of Economics, Department of Chemical Engineering, Department of Geography, School of Dentistry
Twenty-five Quality Evaluations were also completed during 2020/2021.
In addition to the Quality Assurance Reviews, the QAU conducted 14 Quality Evaluations.
Roll out and implementation of The UWI Quality Policy accelerated during the period under review. A cross- campus, virtual Quality Champions Training Workshop organised by the Campus Quality Management Team (CQMT), St. Augustine, and the Quality Assurance Unit, was held on December 3 and 4, 2020, via Zoom. Twenty- nine persons attended the workshop, with twenty persons attending both days and receiving certificates of participation. The workshop was part of our continuing effort to instil a culture of quality among all staff at The UWI. The Annual UWI Quality Day was held on November 12, 2020. Due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, the Campuses found innovative ways to celebrate the day. The theme was “Creating Customer Value”. Among the activities were messages from PVC, Board for Undergraduate Studies, Chairs of CQMTs and The UWI Alumni Association; an awards ceremony at Cave Hill for employees and teams for their outstanding efforts in creating customer value and demonstrating quality while carrying out their duties; testimonials from students attending the Open Campus as well as a virtual lunchtime panel discussion. The St. Augustine and Mona campuses conducted panel discussions, quizzes, video presentations, and other activities involving the students’ guilds. The Five Islands Campus was the winner of the UWI Quality Day Award 2020 for the most innovative celebration of Quality Day.
Campuses continued their emergency online teaching and learning to varying degrees. All QAU officers continued to support their campuses by participating in AQAC meetings and deliberations to interrogate and finalise the revised assessment plans.
QAU conducted hybrid and in most cases totally online quality assurance reviews and evaluations, as the COVID-19 pandemic imposed travel and public health restrictions.
Officers of the QAU continued to support quality-related matters on the campuses, such as the CQMTs, the Quality Policy, Academic Quality Assurance Committees and Accreditation activities when required. The QAU has also been at the forefront of drafting new policies such as the Policy on Delaying, Suspending and Terminating Programmes.
149 UGC-funded regional scholarships were awarded through OBUS in 2020/2021, with an approximate total value of BDS$1,887,523. In addition, BDS$52,064 was allocated to University Bursaries. These included 134 UWI Open Scholarships, 15 UWI/CXC CSEC Scholarships and 18 Caribbean Integration Programme Scholarships. Additionally, over 400 donor-sponsored scholarships were administered with a total value of approximately J$84,101,366 or US$560,675. Approximately 75% of the awards administered were‘one off’grants of varying values allocated to assist students across the region who were experiencing difficulties paying off their tuition costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the year under review, the PVC BUS continued to serve on several committees and Boards including
He was also engaged in several local and international media presentations including
Members of the QAU continued to be 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 SPOs and POs continued their training of the “Student Members of Quality Assurance Review Teams (SMQART)”. Two postgraduate students were apprenticed to review teams for Semester I, change to read 2021/2022. All students would be deployed with honoraria in Semester 2, change to read 2021/2022.
The Quality Education Forum (QEF), our own refereed Journal on Teaching and Learning, was published online under the theme, “Navigating Higher Education in a Pandemic: Teaching and Assessment in the Time of COVID-19 and Beyond”. This journal, which is managed by Dr. Angella Stephens and edited by Professor Paulette Ramsay, can be accessed at: http://uwi.edu/ undergraduatestudies/default.aspx
Volume 21 of The UWI Quality Circle, the newsletter of the QAU, co-edited by Dr. Kay Thompson and Mr. Gregory Jones, focused on Implementing The UWI Quality Policy – Walking the Talk. Its centre spread celebrated the distinguished contribution to quality by Dr. Sandra Gift, who retired at the end of the year under review.
The SPO, Cave Hill, by invitation, became a member of the Editorial Committee for the revamped Regional Headquarters/Vice-Chancellery newsletter. For the second edition, the SPO contributed an article on opinions and approaches to coping with COVID-19.
OBUS staff members continued research and publication in their own areas of academic interest, presented lectures, and gave seminars or conference presentations. The SPO (CH) led the revision of Quality Assurance Units Modules 1, 2 and 6 and served as Chair of the team for the quality assessment of the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College (CFBC) to continue delivery of The UWI Cave Hill Campus’ Postgraduate Diploma in Education. The PO (FIC) led in preparations for the quality evaluation of Preliminary Sciences courses, and was also part of the team led by SPO, St. Augustine, working on quality evaluation of St. Kitts CFBC franchised Social Sciences Level 1 programmes. The SPO (Mona) continued to support the work of the Mona QMT and AQAC, mentor the QAO in the Mona Faculty of Engineering and serve as a member of the University Quality Management Team. In addition, SPO (CH) wrote a chapter in a book scheduled to be released in May 2021. The book, an edited volume, is entitled Caribbean Quality Culture: Persistent Commitment to Improving Higher Education. The PO (FIC) authored a chapter entitled “The UWI Quality Policy: Towards a Quality Policy in Action” in Caribbean Quality Culture: Persistent Commitment to Improving Higher Education. Sandra Gift (ed).
UWI Global Online Policy
This policy, which offers indigenous regional programme content to be prepared by Faculties and Departments and delivered to a global online market audience, was approved by the UF&GPC in February 2021. A proposal for the establishment of the UWI Faculty Development Committee, the Operating Framework for the Office of Online Learning and the Terms
of Reference for the UWI Online Steering Committee were presented to BUS for noting at the February meeting.
Matriculation Policy
As a result of the ongoing disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, BUS approved a waiver of the matriculation requirement for CAPE students applying for admission in academic year 2021/2022. The waiver allowed campuses
to make firm offers to students based on their first year of
CAPE results. BUS approved pending graduates of Barbados Community College and other approved Community Colleges in the Eastern Caribbean to be assessed for matriculation based on their pre-COVID-19 GPAs.
Foundation Courses
Campus responses to the draft policy implementation framework of the approved policy were received and will be finalised for implementation in the 2021/2022 academic year.
One UWI Disability Policy
A cross-campus committee was established to develop a One UWI Policy for Students with Disabilities. The policy will be tabled at the next meeting of BUS in 2021/2022.
Foreign Language Policy
Campus responses to the draft policy implementation framework of the approved policy were received and will be finalised for implementation in the 2021/2022 academic year.
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