Less crime on campus

PRINCIPAL of the University of the West Indies (UWI) at St Augustine, Dr Bhoe Tewarie, said on Monday that there has been a marked decrease in crime on the campus, when compared to the last five to six years. Speaking on Monday at a press conference in the administration building, after the annual campus council meeting, the principal said there have been less crimes “this year than we ever had over the last five to six years.” He said it did not mean that the campus and its surroundings were “extremely safe,” and were without problems, but that students were exercising more vigilance and there was a better working relationship between the campus and national police.

Dr Tewarie also predicted that 25,000 students would be attending the campus by 2010. The campus currently has a total enrolment of 12,400, the largest intake ever. He said UWI officials were engaged in continuous negotiations with Government to get $11 million to support the growth and development of the campus, and an additional $7 million for research.

He said there has been a 50 percent increase in enrolment over the last three years, with females comprising 60 percent of the student population. Dr Tewarie was happy to report that 45 percent of the students graduated last year with B plus average grades, or first class honours. But he said more effort will be given to support clusters of research, as that component was lacking on the campus. Dr Tewarie said to meet the needs of students, construction to provide more space for classrooms, labs, auditoriums and residence halls were being given top priority, and plans were underway to secure additional lands at Trincity for the expansion of the campus.

He said a 500 student living facility will be built at St John’s Road, under the design, finance and construct process. He also stated the campus was moving to provide a “multi-prong teaching mode,” that is, enabling students to access courses online. He said it is hoped that by September there would be “dual mode” of teaching, so that students would not have to enter classrooms to get their degrees.

Dr Tewarie also announced that an audit of its human resources would be undertaken and there were no plans to raise tuition fees. He said the current thrust of the Government did not indicate that this would happen anytime soon. Vice Chancellor Prof Nigel Harris said the number of students at the TT campus, based on the current enrolment rate, would soon exceed those at the other two campuses.  He was also heartened by the fact that the number of students pursuing science and technology courses had exceeded those at the other campuses. At the end of the meeting, campus council chairman Michael Mansoor said he was satisfied that the campus was “very well managed.”