UWI open campus ‘weathered’ 2020/2021 storms

Interim president of the University of the West Indies’ (UWI) open campus Dr Francis Severin is satisfied with how the campus handled the effects of the covid19 pandemic during the 2020/2021 academic year.

He gave the assessment on Friday during the university’s council’s virtual annual meeting.

Severin said, “We are fully cognisant and aware of this terrible enemy called the covid19 pandemic.

“Where the issues of the pandemic continued to fundamentally determine the parameters under which the campus had to operate…we had to maintain our service to our students, we had to be efficient, we had to be effective but we did so.”

Severin explained the university offered free counselling services to staff and students, restructured its tuition payment plan to allow students more time to pay, and gave student discounts on a variety of resources.

The university’s student guild provided covid19 relief grants to 30 students while the UWI Toronto Alumni Association, and supporters, donated USD$20,000 to the students most in need.

“We facilitated our colleagues – in this one UWI philosophy – at the other campuses, so that the UWI experienced that moment and hardly missed a heartbeat.

“While others closed down and while others paused, we continued and marched on for the citizens of the Caribbean.”

While “not as bad at all in the context of the covid19 pandemic,” Severin noted the university saw a 17 per cent decline in applications for graduate programs in 2020/2021 when compared to 2019/2020 and five per cent decline in undergraduate applications for the same period.

There were also declines in graduate registration (six per cent) and undergraduate registration (ten per cent) over the same comparative period.

“Overall, we emerged better than we might have imagined given the widespread effect of covid. Again, we must not be too hard on ourselves.

“In the figures we are seeing a relatively healthy appetite for access to quality education and that’s a good prospect.”

Severin said the university also had to respond to the eruption of the La Soufriere volcano in 2021 which affected operations and students at its St Vincent and the Grenadines open campus.

Quoting Bob Marley’s song Rat Race, Severin lamented, “When you think is peace and safety, a sudden destruction.”

Severin said the UWI Toronto Benefit Gala donated USD$20,000 to the university’s volcano response, which benefited 50 students, while the university’s guild also provided financial assistance.

Overall, Severin said the university was able to meet the physical and psycho-social needs of affected students.

Despite the challenges, Severin revealed 622 students graduated from the university in the academic year.

Vice Chancellor Sir Hilary Beckles commended the university’s covid19 response and said he believes the university’s most “glorious” days are ahead.

“It was a very successful year for the open campus, but in many ways also it was a very stressful and difficult year indeed.

“But critically, what the year in review reflects for us all is that the positives and negatives have now come together in such a way as to create a perfect context for transformation, reinventing who we are, and grasping a new future.”