Throughout the academic year 2022/2023, the UOP offered technical and advisory assistance to the Vice- Chancellery and other business units within the University system to support implementing strategic and operational initiatives aligned with the Triple A Strategy 2022–2027, Phase II: Revenue Revolution. To promote teamwork and facilitate their work, the UOP conducted five staff meetings during the review period, serving operational and developmental purposes.

Developments within the Human Resources Operation

Throughout the reporting period, Ms. Greer McKenzie was promoted to Senior Research Technician within the UOP. Additionally, Ms. Sharon Hamilton, Project Officer III, took a one-year sabbatical. During her sabbatical, Mr. Tashfeen Ahmad took over the portfolio role of monitoring and evaluating the strategic plan.

The Portfolio

The UOP divided its work into four non-mutually exclusive units. These units are Strategic Planning, Business Intelligence/Institutional Research, Economic Engagement/Industry Partnerships, and Business Process Re-engineering/Project Management. The members of these units performed both technical and routine administrative work across seven broad portfolios, including but not limited to:

• survey design and implementation.
• policy research to develop proposals for new business.
• strategic planning, monitoring, and evaluation.
• development of ICT systems and analytical tools for monitoring and evaluating major projects.
• execution of special projects based on demand that will enhance the work of the University.
• participation in university ranking exercises.
• proposal developments to enhance operational efficiency.

Major Activities

During the academic year 2022/2023, the UOP diligently worked towards supporting the UWI Triple A Plan through its engagement with the various pillars of Access, Alignment, and Agility. The UOP’s core portfolios were focused on achieving the objectives and targets outlined in the plan around these three strategic goals.

ACCESS

The UOP engaged in the preparation and dissemination of the following works over the period to meet the goal of Access:

• The University of the West Indies Student Statistics, 2017/2018 to 2021/2022.
• Datasets for the Vice-Chancellor’s Annual Report to Council, 2021/2022.
• Results of the UWI Student Satisfaction Survey 2023 and the UWI Staff Engagement Survey 2023.
• Report on the Times Higher Education Results of the Reputation Survey 2022.
• Report on the Times Higher Education Results of the World University Ranking 2022.
• Report on the Times Higher Education Results of the University Impact Ranking 2023.
• Report on the Times Higher Education Results of the Latin American and Caribbean University Ranking 2023.
• Report on the Webometrics and URAP (University Ranking by Academic Performance) 2023 results.
• Review paper on The UWI’s potential participation in the QS World University Ranking.
• Report on Implementation of Core Operational Metrics.
• Framework for the OBUS Student Survey of the UWI Learner Mindsets.
• Framework for the OBUS Staff Survey of the UWI Staff User Mindset on Technology Adoption and Use.
• Report of “Student Entrepreneurial Intentions Survey by Sex, Open Campus.”
• Guidelines for “The Implementation of Gender Audit Staff and Student Surveys.”

The Office was also involved in the preparation of the following survey instruments to facilitate information gathering for decision-making:

• Student Satisfaction Survey
• Staff Engagement Survey
• OBUS Student Survey of the UWI Learner Mindsets
• OBUS Staff Survey of the UWI Staff User Mindset on Technology Adoption and Use

ALIGNMENT

The UOP developed a concept paper for hosting a conference on the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Reimagining the Digital Transformation of the Caribbean in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. This conference will be hosted jointly with the UWI Five Islands Campus. The Office also presented the findings of the Audit of the UWI Entrepreneurial Culture to the senior management teams across the various UWI Campuses.

Further, the UOP continued to produce the UOP bulletin, Trends in Higher Education, to inform the various stakeholders of the latest and most cutting-edge developments in the higher education sector. It covers significant advancements in the higher education sector that will affect The UWI’s strategic direction. The bulletins provide valuable information to aid the owners of strategic initiatives in making data-driven decisions while considering the evolving dynamics of the institution’s operating environment. The unit generated three issues of the bulletin during this time.

• Trends in Higher Education Vol. 5 Issue 1 – Social Issues Affecting Higher Education Institutions (October 2022)
• Trends in Higher Education Vol. 5 Issue 2 – The Influence of Technologies and Tools on Higher Educational Institutions (January 2023)
• Trends in Higher Education Vol. 5 Issue 3 – Economic Issues Affecting the Higher Education Sector (May 2023)

AGILITY

With the assistance of the strategy steering committee, which comprised all the strategy officers from the Campuses and the Vice Chancellery, the UOP engaged in quarterly reviews of the progress and status of the initiatives that have been put forward from each Campus and the Vice Chancellery in closing out the Triple A Plan 2017–2022.

In addition, the strategy steering committee commenced its quarterly review of the progress and status updates of the Triple A Strategy 2022–2027 Phase 2: Revenue Revolution.

The UOP also offered virtual training sessions to faculty and staff who monitor and evaluate the strategic plan. These sessions focus on how to navigate the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) system.

The UOP also developed a number of concept papers on several areas to drive greater efficiency in The UWI’s operations. These included:

• A prototype for a competitor analysis database for The UWI. This database will provide The UWI with comprehensive information on all institutions that provide direct or indirect competition to its offerings. This is an ongoing exercise.
• A web-enabled system to track and monitor The UWI’s cost-saving and revenue-generation initiatives to rebalance its financial position. The “10 in 2” financial model tracking system was developed and launched by the UOP. This activity continues as The UWI maintains a tight lid on managing its cost structure.

General Routine Activities

Besides the technical work on significant projects, the UOP also engaged in routine activities to enhance the institution’s operational effectiveness:

• Times Higher Education World University Rankings – data collection exercise and aggregation for all campuses for submission to the THE. The UWI was ranked at position #25 in the 2023 Times Higher Education Latin America University Rankings. The UWI also participated in The Times Higher Education 2023 University Impact Rankings. The UWI was ranked in the 601–800 band overall with a score of 64.3 (out of 100) compared to 2022, with a score of 65.7 in the 401–600 band.
• Chairing of interview panels for several posts across The UWI.
• Preparation of Web Analytics Report.

PROJECTED ACTIVITIES FOR THE 2023/2024 ACADEMIC YEAR

The Office has a busy year ahead, focusing on implementing the New Strategic Plan from 2022–2027. Our team will support policy development by conducting research and data analysis to create concept papers and proposals that align with the plan’s Access, Alignment, and Agility pillars.

In addition, the Office will push on with its routine work, which includes but is not limited to:

• Sensitisation process across The UWI system for the tools developed by the UOP to assist decision-makers in making data-driven decisions in implementing their initiatives to meet the targets of the strategic plan, 2022–2027.
• Monitoring of Plan 2022–2027 and working with Marketing and Communications for robust sensitisation of the plan to the entire community.
• UOP’s Annual Retreat with CPOs.
• Supporting campuses in implementing the One UWI Metrics for monitoring operational performance across the campuses and the UWI Centre.
• Designing and executing the Staff and Student Engagement Surveys for 2024.
• Continuing with routine activities (e.g., facilitating interview panels, data collection, and analyses for ranking exercise, conducting surveys and institutional research for internal UWI clients, supporting the development of proposals and business cases for revenue revolution project, etc.)