IT’S NOT that students are unable to afford tuition at Cave Hill. Rather, it is more likely that their families are not persuaded that their investing in a Cave Hill undergraduate degree will give their teenagers the prospect of finding and keeping a job in our narrow market. The majority don’t even know what they want to do with their lives yet!
Employers, on the other hand, have also seen that an employee with a university degree but a poor work ethic is actually more of a drag on productivity. Three subsidised years at Cave Hill is even a poor substitute for school days because there is no pressure on anyone to perform.
Barbados’ economy would be better served in the long run by first equipping school leavers for a practical trade until they are mature enough to show that they are serious investors in their chosen careers. Some will take their technical introduction into profitable self-employment.
The University of the West Indies has reached a turning point. Lower admission requirements combined with governments’ runaway educational largesse has allowed the university to pump up its overhead expenses and its promises to runaway levels disproportionately for our miniscule economy. Now the institution must find ways to earn its keep by leading the way in identifying and diversifying local industrial opportunities, finding new markets and promoting the levels of direct foreign investment needed to sustain it.
It might take the pressure of a crisis to make everyone focus on their creative potential.
– LEE FARNUM-BADLEY
