Noting that the University of the West Indies (UWI) was at a stage where it could freeze its Barbadian undergraduate population, principal Sir Hilary Beckles has given the assurance to Government that the strategy to reduce costs would intensify.
Sir Hilary, who delivered the feature address at the university’s 2013 Matriculation Ceremony at the Roy Marshall Complex yesterday, said the campus had been working feverishly towards containing the economic costs of their programmes “so that tuition-fee levels can also be contained.”
Before an audience that included former Miss World, Jamaica’s Minister of Youth and?Culture Lisa Hanna, Sir Hilary acknowledged that maintaining a top-class university was costly.
“This is the central challenge facing universities worldwide. This is the elephant in the room in Barbados.
“Let’s all admit to one basic truth. A good university is a relatively expensive proposition. UWI is a very good university. I have been exposed to hundreds of them all over the world and know of what I speak.”
