If University of the West Indies (UWI) Vice Chancellor Nigel Harris had his way, both the Barbados Government and the university would have discussed the country’s plan to end free university education before the move was actually announced.
Just as important, there would have been a “national conversation” on the best way to finance tertiary education in difficult economic times.
Harris told the SUNDAY SUN in New York on Friday that while Barbados’ move to require students to pay 20 per cent of their tuition at UWI didn’t come as a complete surprise, he was caught off-guard by the timing of Government’s move and the fact that it was being introduced without any prior consultation with the UWI itself.
“I would have wished that they had afforded the university the opportunity to at least meet with them and indeed work out what would be the best system by which tuition and fees might be introduced,” he said.
“The sudden announcement certainly took many persons by surprise. I had said before the announcement that a national conversation about this would have been the preferred route, so that people would have been alerted to the pros and cons of introducing fees. There also would have been an opportunity to think through how best to go about it.
“I wasn’t surprise by the move. I was surprised by the timing. I was surprised that we had not been warned that it was coming when it did,” he added.
