Principal (University of the West Indies, Mona)

Jamaica competes with the other Caribbean countries in all sectors. How does Jamaica compare to its neighbours in regards to tertiary education?

Our advantage is really the quality of our talented student population. At the Mona Campus of The University of the West Indies (UWI), which also has campuses in Trinidad and Barbados, we accept the brightest of the bright. The demand for a UWI education is very high and our applications for this year have increased by 30% from last year. The tragedy is that we are not able to admit all of the qualified students, which is why I support our sister institution the University of Technology (UTECH). In spite of having UWI and UTECH, along with a plethora of other private institutions and even overseas institutions operating here, we are not close to where we should be in terms of satisfying the demand for tertiary education. In a first world country, for example, one in three members of the population have tertiary education. We are nowhere near that in the region.

More generally speaking, our competitive advantage also resides in Brand Jamaica. The Jamaican brand is the strongest in the Caribbean. Our athletes have done us well, our musicians have done us well and our creative and talented population also contribute to the strong brand.

The Mona School of Business and Management (MSBM) was established on August 1, 2012 from the merger of the Mona School of Business and the Department of Management Studies. Exactly what were the reasons for the creation of the Business School? What objectives did it aim to fulfil?

The reasons for the creation of the business school are two-fold: a) to ensure that all management and business programmes on the campus come under one umbrella b) to create a centre of excellence in business and management education in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean region. The school had as its main objectives: a) to become the first AACSB accredited business school in the Caribbean region b) to produce the highest quality business graduates that can contribute positively to the improved competitiveness of enterprises in the Caribbean and beyond.

We believe that management is part of the discipline of business so it was a natural synergy between the two. Other reasons were that the Department of Management Studies was our largest undergraduate academic department and also management courses at other institutions were largely delivered by their business schools.

Was this merger a smooth transition?

Overall, the merger has progressed quite well to date. The research output out of the school has improved tremendously, the financial position of the school has improved, the school’s profile in the local business community has improved and importantly a number of projects have been implemented which have improved the teaching and learning experience of our students

The school’s MBA programme is fully accredited by AMBA. The first accreditation of the MBA programme was done in 2011 and the re-accreditation happened in 2014. The accreditation team seems to have no difficulty with the merger, in fact they are in support of the merger, and they thought that that was the best path to pursue.

How many of UWI’s courses are self-funded versus government-funded?

Approximately 60% of the courses offered across the campus at both the graduate and undergraduate level are self-funded and this percentage is increasing. We find that government funded courses are now decreasing because of the current economic situation. As a result, the majority of new programmes being introduced must be self-funded.

How do you overcome these challenges of introducing new programmes? Is it all funded through financing from students or do you partner with other organisations outside of the university?

We now partner with a number of private entities. When, for example, we introduced our School of Engineering two years ago, we partnered with some private institutions such as the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), which provided a significant number of scholarships. The cost for the programme is nowhere near what is actually paid by students so we rely heavily on scholarships and other financial grants from benefactors and business entities. There are also people who feel that they have a social obligation to assist in such endeavours. Last year the Mona campus also spent J$750,000 to help to meet the financial needs of the students. This was done in the form of scholarships, book grants, bursaries and funds for social needs. We feel that it is very important to give that kind of support. One thing I believe in is that we must continue to give access to the poorest of the poor because there are many poor people in this country. Many of them are bright and come out of high school with very good grades in spite of their challenges. We are passionate about making sure that, even as we start these full fee programmes, that we provide the necessary support to give access to people of the lower economic strata of society. This helps The UWI, Mona to fulfil its mandate of promoting social and economic development in the country.

I know that the Minister of Education is also very passionate about this and we have worked on a number of innovative ways to help fund some of these students. For example, we just worked on a $J150 million programme to help fund medical students. As a result, we have increased the number of students entering the medical school from 100 students to up to 350 students per year, even with the full fee paying programme.

It is paradoxical because now that we have opened the doors to accept more students, we are finding that we are able to train more poor children in the medical field than we did before. Many of them graduate and this is very important, because this is how the society will advance. If you leave all the poor people poor, we will never get anywhere, so this shows that education is a vital tool for the advancement of Jamaica. So it is very important that the people from the lower strata who go to school and work very hard get access to the necessary tools to advance in society.

In August Town, the inner-city community adjacent to us, we give nine scholarships per year to qualified young people. Even with Government funding, these students would not have been able to come to UWI if it were not for these scholarships. Many of these students graduate with first class honours. The arrangement is that they must continue to live in August Town after they graduate or even if they move out of the community they must continue to contribute to the community, for example, through a homework programme. So far we have not had one delinquency under this arrangement. This is how we get social advancement and this is how we develop as a country.

Since 2006, the Caribbean Maritime Institute (CMI) has adopted the Blue Ocean philosophy strategy whereby it innovates and modifies its programmes to suit future job dispositions and the labour forecast. Has UWI thought about adopting this philosophy?

It is very important and the debate goes on and on about that. If you speak to the advisors of the Minister of Education, they will tell you that we should train for the market.

My view is that there has to be a mix, especially in a society like ours where there are limited resources. I believe that CMI is doing the right thing because of the nature of their institution but we cannot forget to continue to educate our students in the traditional sense. What I mean by that is we have to continue to train people in the arts and humanities, as this is where critical thinkers come from. I believe that the government has a role to ensure that some institutions focus on that. While we are doing a lot to train our engineering, physics and animation students for the market, I believe that an institution like UWI has a responsibility to focus on delivering an education in the traditional sense in subjects like history, archaeology, humanities and linguistics. My view is that with an education you will find your place in the world. You may not gain employment but if you are educated you can create your own job.

At one time UWI reserved a small number of places in the Faculty of Medicine for people who were trained in the humanities. Today, some of our most outstanding doctors came out of that faculty. Sir George Alleyne, who is our Chancellor, is internationally renowned and one of the most outstanding graduates of The University of the West Indies. Our leading neurosurgeon also came out of that faculty. The reason for this is that critical thinking is part of the essence of your training as a doctor

Having a multicultural and varied student mix is of great benefit to any institution. Just how important is this to UWI?

This is very important to us for two reasons. We believe that in order to enhance the global reach and impact of The UWI, we have to attract students from the region and from outside of the Caribbean. We have students from all over the world, from Africa, Australia, Afghanistan, India, China and many other parts of the world and we are introducing strategies to attract even more.

The second reason is that we are trying to give our students a global experience in education. There should be no university today that does not embrace diversity so we want to encourage a climate that is open and welcoming to diverse people, ideas and perspectives. It is that mix that is going to provide a good education. We take pride in telling our students that what you learn inside the classroom is very important but what you learn outside of the classroom is just as important. We have lecturers from all over the world as well and you learn more from interacting with people from different cultures. At the end of the day that is what is going to make you an educated person who is able to compete on a global scale.

What percentage of your student body is foreign?

Before the expansion of our medical school we had about 98% Jamaican students. Today approximately 40% of the students in that faculty come from other countries. The trend is growing across the campus now but it is still not enough. On campus we have about 15% of students from other Caribbean territories and another 3% from countries outside of the Caribbean.

We have a target for 2017 to move that figure from 3% to 10%. We are optimistic because we are now recruiting students from our traditional market of North America and also from Africa. Initially we were not registered with the US Department of Education, so students from the USA could not get federal funding to study here in Jamaica. We are now completing the process of registration and once that is in place, we believe that by 2017 we should have 10% of international students from outside of the Caribbean.

How does UWI work to attract international students?

Our International Students Office (ISO) drives the internationalization imperatives of The UWI, Mona Campus. In this regard, the ISO has forged strategic global partnerships that facilitate the enrolment of international students. The ISO also encourages student exchanges and study abroad programmes.

We also partner with many international institutions. In fact we just hosted the Dean from the Faculty of the Arts and Sciences of the University of Burlington, which is a part of the SUNY Group. We have MOUs with many North American universities such as the University of Minnesota and the University of Toronto. Ryerson University developed our online nursing programme for us and we also have arrangements with the University of London mainly in the area of staff exchange, student exchange and training. Our graduate studies board has now insisted that you cannot supervise more than five Ph.D. students so we have now partnered with international institutions to facilitate this. We currently have one Ph.D. student in the Medical University of Vienna doing part of her studies there and she will graduate with a joint Ph.D. from both universities.

Another strategy we use, for example, in recruiting African students, is making contacts through the embassies and ambassadors here in Jamaica. There are also a number of professors from Africa here on campus. This has afforded us an opportunity to meet with officials about the prospects of students coming here to study. These meetings have proven to be very promising and our hope is that students will be coming in from Africa from August of this year.

Entrepreneurship and innovation are fundamental to any economy. How does UWI promote these?

There are two sides to it: training in terms of formal education and entrepreneurship that takes place in the Mona School of Business and Management. On campus we have changed the emphasis of our research and now focus on research that has the potential to affect the nation. So we have established the Mona Office for Research and Innovation, which is there to drive innovation and work with researchers to develop products that can go to market and development.

We also have an MOU with the Jamaica Manufacturing Association whereby if a company has a problem to solve, they approach us and we help them to find that solution.

In addition, in our School of Business we have a business incubator, which assists our students in developing their ideas. We have a lot of activity now in our biotechnology sector. Many students have created products and want to start their own company, so part of our incubator is called “Our Accelerator” and is for products that are already part developed. So we help them get these products out into the business environment.

We also intend to establish a Board for Entrepreneurship. Essentially this Board will coordinate all of the entities for this programme. So if a student has an idea they will apply to the Board and then the Board will make a decision as to where it will go, if it should go to our Business Development Office or if it should go to the business incubator. This same board will also manage internships because local and international companies are approaching us now seeking interns particularly in the area of neutraceuticals.

One of our outstanding entrepreneurs, Professor Henry Lowe, has developed a wellness spa called Eden Gardens and is partnering with us now in a big way, not just to develop neutraceuticals but also to provide internships for our students. He is also employing our graduates out of the science faculty, namely the field of chemistry. So at the start of the next academic year, we will have a big launch for the Board of Entrepreneurship.

The readers of HBR include the world’s most powerful and influential figures of society. What message would you like to send them about Jamaica?

Jamaica is open for business and ready to collaborate in exciting new business ventures. The Jamaican economy is improving and moving in the right direction. The business landscape is being transformed, adding to the country’s competitive advantage, given the well-developed infrastructure, strong air and sea connectivity and the country’s near shore advantage We are getting on top of some of our social problems and the high crime rate is decreasing. There has also been a significant improvement in terms of the ease in which you can conduct business here in Jamaica.

What message would you like to send them about UWI?

The UWI is the largest tertiary level institution in the English-speaking Caribbean. It is an innovative, internationally competitive, contemporary university deeply rooted in the Caribbean and committed to offering quality higher education. We aim to provide the intellectual leadership, which will assist the government in finding solutions to some of Jamaica’s problems, as well as guidance in their aim to achieve economic development.

The UWI, Mona offers globally accredited undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology and Social Sciences.

From Emmy Award to Nobel Prize winners, CEOs to entrepreneurs, academics to artists, leaders of nations to leaders across all sectors, The UWI’s network of alumni is impacting the world.

The UWI is a special institution. We invite you to join us on our journey.