Orange Grove wrong site for UWI Campus

THE EDITOR: The Government of Trinidad and Tobago and the St Augustine Campus must be commended for their efforts in making tertiary education more accessible to our population. The percentage of the secondary school cohort enrolled in tertiary education programmes jumped from about eight percent in 2000 to, in my estimate 12 percent in 2004. (The figure for post-secondary education has been given as 17 percent in 2004). While this is certainly encouraging, we still have some way to go to reach the over 35 percent average for Europe and North America. The Government’s promise of free tertiary education by 2008 will certainly help. I am not sure though why this noble objective cannot be achieved by 2006.

At the St Augustine campus with a student population of 13,500 we are fast approaching the point where life for both students and staff is becoming uncomfortable and the greenery is rapidly giving way to concrete. The campus is bursting at its seams and this has the potential of affecting the quality of our programmes. It is therefore heartening to know that discussions are now underway concerning the building of another UWI campus — something that some of us had proposed since last year. While this is certainly good news, the question is why Orange Grove as the location?

The East-West Corridor is crowded with housing projects and residential areas with the attendant nightmarish traffic problem. To build another campus just a few miles away from the St Augustine campus would only aggravate the situation. Further-more, the major campus of the University of Trinidad and Tobago is being constructed at Waller Field, which means that most of the major tertiary institutes will be located along the East-West Corridor.

What about the South? A large percentage of students come from such colleges as Presentation, Naparima Boys, Naparima Girls, St Joseph Convent, San Fernando Government Secondary and Asja Boys and Girls. We need to facilitate these students by taking tertiary education to this major centre and in the process reduce the crowding in and around the St Augustine campus. The possibility of exchanging lands at Orange Grove for lands in the South could be explored. For the above reasons, I am kindly requesting that the authorities give serious consideration to establishing a UWI Campus in the vicinity of San Fernando and that this campus initially offer programmes in the fields of Humanities, Natural and Social Sciences.

PROF HAROLD RAMKISSOON
UWI, St Augustine