UWI Students' Guild: HyFlex learning can cut campus' operational costs

ACTING president of the UWI, St Augustine campus' Guild of Students Kyle Bisnath says the university can save money by implementing the HyFlex learning model.

He was responding to recent comments made by the campus principal Prof Rose-Marie Belle Antoine at the 2023 campus council meeting on Wednesday.

She said the university had a 17.5 per cent drop in enrolment for the 2021/2022 academic year, which is a "front-burner issue" for the campus administration.

She added that government contributions dropped from $529,611,000 in 2021 to $485,146,000 in 2022.

The university is also dealing with protests and threats by its staff over wage negotiations for daily and weekly-rated workers, monthly-paid administrative technical and service employees.

Bisnath told Newsday that students had "definitely felt the impact of the campus' reduction in staff through the lax upkeep of campus facilities and its infrastructure."

Because of that, he said, the guild will continue to advocate for "greater considerations into HyFlex learning," which "proposes the potential benefit of reduced operational costs for the campus."

HyFlex learning refers to hybrid and flexible learning, which is typically a combination of online (synchronous and asynchronous) and in-person learning.

Unlike hybrid learning, the HyFlex learning model allows students to always have a choice in the way they wish to engage on a particular day instead of the educators making that decision for them.

Bisnath said, "The Guild of Students will continue to advocate for improvement and work with administration to ensure that these matters are addressed.

"As it relates to concerns of decline admissions, we adopt the philosophy of the UWI’s Triple A strategy, where we wish to maximise access to higher education and recognise that many students now choose the opportunity to be employed after secondary education rather than pursuing tertiary (education).

"We, therefore, urge the UWI to continue to endorse entrepreneurship as an avenue after graduation rather than rely solely on employment."