Prez ponders pros, cons of free tertiary education

President Richards was delivering the feature address at the launch of the Accreditation Council at Crowne Plaza, Port-of-Spain, on Monday evening.

The President also pointed out that broadening of access to higher education with the introduction of free tertiary education will mean there will no longer be an "academic elite." As such, he questioned what will now happen with academic standards, especially since an "institution that once drew from the 95 percentile and above, now draws from as low as the 50 percentile."

President Richards also questioned if the "change in educational quality at admission will necessarily imply a commensurate change in quality at graduation?"

However, he later stressed, "the traditional, elitist idea of a university has gone, yet, no lowering of traditional standards of quality is to be tolerated."

He insisted that among all of the functions of higher education, there was a need to preserve "the more intangible purpose of imparting wisdom, and generally equipping young people intelligently to question conventional assumptions and expectations."

He added that that was the new threat to universities in an age of regulating and quality auditing.

The President told council members there needed to be universities to remain "meritocratic institutions, offering all of their members maximum opportunities to be the best they can possibly be."

He called on other post-secondary institutions to take into account that they must also produce well rounded individuals, as they are part of the tertiary education stock.