Sod turned for $50M UWI-IOB campus

THE sod was turned yesterday for the start of construction of the TT$50 million UWI-Institute of Business (IOB) campus at Uriah Butler Highway, Champs Fleurs.

The facility on 66,000 sq ft is expected to be completed in 19 months, February 2005. It will comprise three main buildings to accommodate at least 700 students. At the ceremony, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Institute, Dr Bhoe Tewarie, said it was a major step in the realisation of finding a home for  the Institute. Describing the Institute as a unique experiment between the UWI and the private sector, Tewarie said while the Institute had very little tangible assets to call its own, it had built a brand reputation since its inception in 1989. He said the Institute had used rented facilities until 1995 when it was able to house its administration and classrooms under one roof. Minister of Tertiary Education, Danny Montano, in his remarks at the ceremony, said government was very happy to have been able to guarantee a $7 million loan over a 21-year period for the construction of the TT$50 million facility. He noted that from 1993 to 2002, the Institute produced 721 graduates with post graduate degrees as well as trained 15,000 at various other levels of business education. Minister Montano said the site for the Institute was appropriate since it was next to the Mt Hope campus, as well as the soon to be COSTAATT campus. He dubbed the area the “corridor of learning.”

Montano further pointed out that the reputation of graduates of the Institute was better recognised in the industry compared to their colleagues at the UWI, and they were being “snapped up.” Director at the Institute, Arthur Lok Jack, in his remarks, said the sod turning was another chapter in the school’s history. He reiterated that it was created to fill a strategic gap in the University’s offerings to the local business community. He said from the outset the Institute had surpassed expectations and has grown into a local, regional and international force. He said its academic programmes have multiplied with the Institute now offering three MSc degrees as well as two MBA’s. Lok Jack also announced “ambitious plans” for the Institute. These include a Central American Study Programme, where IOB students will travel to Costa Rica to practise their Spanish and visit businesses. A Doctor of Business Administration degree, which should be introduced soon, together with a revision of existing academic programmes, the introduction of new specialisations, the use of novel technology for teaching and greater collaboration with top notch business schools like the Helsinki School of Economics and Business, Thunderbird and Manchester Business School.