UTT’s cash woes trouble Garcia

CARLA BRIDGLAL

Education Minister Anthony Garcia is “very concerned” about the state of financial affairs at the University of Trinidad & Tobago (UTT), and has summoned the board of directors to a meeting on Tuesday afternoon.

“We will have a full-fledged discussion,” Garcia told reporters after a site visit to Malick Government Secondary School on Friday.

On Wednesday, UTT chairman Prof Kenneth Julien said in an internal memo that unless the university underwent immediate restructuring, it would not be able to meet its financial obligations and, as of January 18, 2018, would not be able to continue operations.

Julien said the university has been operating under “considerable financial constraints” over the past year and is facing a “huge cash shortfall” of $190 million, compounded by the 11 percent cut in its recurrent allocation from the government, now at $200 million.

Julien added that among the restructuring moves proposed by the university were cuts in top management positions, a 25 percent cut in expenses towards the academic body and 50 percent in corporate staffing.

Garcia said he was “not totally unaware” of the university’s escalating financial troubles since he has weekly meetings with the vice chairman and has been discussing these challenges for some time now. He was, however, surprised that the news was made public since the board and the government were in the process of discussing how best to deal with them.

The government’s aim, he said, was to ensure that students have access to affordable, quality tertiary education.

Garcia added that before he meets with the board, he will meet with the Minister of Finance so he can be in a better position to articulate the government’s stance. He added that he had also discussed the matter with the Prime Minister.

In a release, former tertiary education minister Fazal Karim said he condemned the government’s “sustained attacks on staff at publicly funded higher education institutions.”

He also noted that the UTT announcements come on the heels of staff-dismissal announcements at the National Energy Skills Centre (NESC) and the MIC Institute of Technology within the last year.

The government has no plan for education and training or national development, and firing staff is not a sustainable solution, he added.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is reported as saying that the Government will ensure that students at UTT will be able to access what the country can afford. He also critisised Karim’s statements, pointing out that there were those who had been opposed to the creation of the UTT.

Additional reporting by Marlene Augustine

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