GATE changes affect UWI

The committee, in an interim report, Copeland told a press conference yesterday at the UWI St Augustine Campus, looked at ways the university should mobilise for the implementation of the changes in the GATE funding which are to be put in place from September 2017.

With the means test being the main challenge, he said, “That means there has to be a change in our process to accommodate that test.” Before students had 100 percent coverage, but with the change some will be given 100 percent, 75 percent and 50 percent.

“Students will need to know exactly how much support they are getting,” he said. “Simply as it sounds, it complicates the process.” “Processing to accommodate students and to reflect the different levels of GATE support will require some adjustments,” he said.

Noting that the university has no influence on GATE itself and that the committee’s findings were its response to Government’s recommendations on GATE, Copeland said, the committee’s final report should be in by April month end.

“We have to move very quickly because very soon the whole system will start for the new academic year,” he said.

Noting that it was still too early to tell how the changes will affect students, he said some 9,000 students’ applications are in and some 4,000 will be accepted.

Nevertheless, he said, “I really don’t expect too much of a change.

Other factors will impact on students coming to the UWI.” In terms of post graduate scholarships given the recent decline in the country’s economy, he said, Government has not indicated a change in its policy, except for the GATE and that it will be looking to fund programmes geared for national development.

On campus safety and security, he said, the campus was a village by itself with a population of about 45,000 associating with it and students need to exercise due caution in spite of security systems in place.

The introduction of the zoning of vehicular traffic on campus last September, he said, caused some initial discomfort, but it has reduced the amount of unauthorised vehicles passing through