Vice-Chancellor designate of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Sir Hilary Beckles, is a man who loves a challenge, and when he takes over the top operational position at the regional university in a few months, this is exactly what he will find. Indeed, there will be many challenges that will require both the skills of a diplomat and the resolve of an autocrat; otherwise, he will start and end as what the Americans refer to as a lame duck.
For those on the outside, the issues facing the English-speaking Caribbean’s oldest university run the gamut from financial, the rapid decline in integration of the region’s people it once exemplified, to the competition it faces where it once had a virtual monopoly. These are hurdles that cannot be surmounted overnight.
The most glaring problem is perhaps the financial situation that has hamstrung the UWI in many ways. Given the financial morass most regional governments face and will hardly overcome quickly, there can be no quick solution to this matter. Even the Trinidad and Tobago government, which is the only one with readily available cash, could be entering a new season of uncertainty because of the pressure its oil revenues face. A new and sustainable financing model, one necessitating students’ direct financial input, is the only solution.
There is the pressure from other institutions of higher learning, whether by their physical presence or by the competition they provide online or via distance education. From his new headquarters at Mona, Sir Hilary will have a good view of the competition, whether the University of the North Caribbean and/or University of Technology. Similarly, the competition is growing in both Trinidad and Barbados, while many people in the Eastern Caribbean no longer need any of the three physical campuses of the UWI or its Open Campus for their tertiary education.
Another concern is the devolution which has taken place at the UWI. Cave Hill no longer has the lone law faculty; neither does Mona have the sole medical faculty. And while St Augustine still has the only engineering faculty, there is no need for Jamaicans or Barbadians to go there, with a casualty being the loss of that cross-fertilisation which was once inevitable among Caribbean students. Each campus has in effect become its own autonomous institute.
We all know Sir Hilary to be a good communicator, but with this new task he must also be able to inspire and win the confidence of the political directorate, the university’s staff and student body. He will also need to continue forging those critical links with the region’s private sector and the university’s alumni.
As a historian, he is well aware of the importance of defining a legacy. Sir Hilary will want to do so in a positive manner and secure his place in the history of the University of the West Indies.
