Vice-chancellor's Overview
OPERATION REVENUE REVOLUTION 75+
On July 14, 2021, Vice-Chancellor Professor
Sir Hilary Beckles led the University’s EMT
in a strategic planning retreat launching
“Operation RR75+”, the second five-year
period of its ten-year strategic plan.
The new five-year operation plan,
Operation Revenue Revolution 75+,
represented the first time in its history
that the University was implementing
an operational plan dedicated solely and
exclusively to addressing its financial
sustainability.
In the prior five-year operational plan,
themed “The Reputation Revolution”, the
University focused on rebuilding its brand,
and radically upgrading its reputation
regionally and globally as a pre-condition
for the second phase.
According to Vice-Chancellor Beckles, the
results of this first phase were “spectacular”,
as exemplified by many historic successes
such as The UWI’s Triple 1st ranking from
the Times Higher Education: number 1 in
the Caribbean, top 1% in Latin America
and the Caribbean region, and top 1% in
its global cohort (of universities between
50 and 80 years old).
Governmental perspective
Addressing the retreat was Chairman of CARICOM, Prime
Minister the Honourable Gaston Browne, who spoke
from the perspective of contributing governments. Prime
Minister Browne embraced the University’s vision and
strategy and predicted that the change process would see
the University doing well. He noted that the governments
were solidly behind the regional university in leading
financial reforms for greater autonomy and endorsed the
quest to radically alter The UWI’s financial circumstances
Private sector perspective
Group President and CEO of Sagicor Financial Corporation
Limited, Dr. Dodridge Miller, representing the private
sector perspective, spoke about benefits of The UWI
learning from the Sagicor model in going from local and
regional to global to secure its financial future and assure
the quality of its offerings to the Caribbean people.
Regional development perspective
New President of the Caribbean Development Bank, Dr. Hyginus
‘Gene’ Leon, speaking from a regional development perspective,
commended the University for accurately reading the challenges
endemic to its domestic eco-system, and operationalising an
innovative response that would serve the institution and region
well.
Vice-Chancellor Beckles iterated that the University cannot
continue to grow, innovate, and prosper solely within its domestic
financial base. He recognised the devastation of the regional
economy by COVID-19 leading to governments’ inability to fund it
at the approved level. Underscoring that the global gaze was now
at centre stage within the five-year operational plan, he said, “There
has been an explosion of innovation within The UWI during the last
five years, and we are capturing this in the current strategy. This will
be reflected in an upsurge in productivity, cost reduction, and the
greater application of technologies to the new business culture.”
