UWI to create US$600m trust fund for regional skills development

THE UNIVERSITY of the West Indies wants to establish a US$600 million trust fund over three years for the Caribbean’s human capital development. Hopefully, this investment will help stem the systemic decline in the region’s higher education and research sector.

This was announced on November 12 by UWI vice-chancellor Sir Hilary Beckles at a virtual media event to discuss the recent initiatives taken by the university to leverage and convert its global reputation into revenue generation.

On October 14, UWI had a virtual development partner forum, themed “Investing in higher education to build more diversified and resilient post-covid economies.”

The forum, held in conjunction with the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), brought together leading international donors such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the United States Agency for International Development, the European Union Aid, and agencies from Canada and Australia for a bilateral discussion. This event had more than 100 participants.

“This was arguably the first time that the UWI was able to sit down with all the global development partners and speak about the future of the Caribbean,” Beckles said.

Among the pandemic’s negative effects upon the Caribbean region is the weakened economy, projected to contract by approximately eight per cent in 2020. Consequently, many contributing governments have found themselves unable to meet their financial commitments to UWI. Beckles said the region’s ability to attain its higher education objectives is critical to become globally competitive and to provide a dignified, prosperous and sustainable lifestyle for all its inhabitants. Adequate funding is high on the university’s list of priorities.

In September 2020 UWI singed a memorandum of understanding with the Open Society Foundations, the highest funded private foundation in the world, which is committed to working with like-minded entities globally to promote justice, democratic governance and human rights. Among the areas of focus will be UWI’s wide-ranging climate change research and focus on climate justice, as well as the consolidation of climate initiatives through UWI’s Global Institute for Climate-Smart Studies and Resilience.

Each campus is also developing "bankable projects" to take to market such as the UWI Global School of Medicine at Debe, Trinidad, and UWI Open Campus' online education products to new markets such as Guyana.