MONA CAMPUS REPORT
Using its Global Reputation to restore Financial Health to The UWI
through The Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work and co-taught by the University of St. Andrews (Scotland) • Preliminary discussions held with St. Mary’s University, Canada for dual degree programmes (The Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work)
distribution. This cost saving exercise resulted in the Faculty’s reducing the expenditure of employing associate lecturers by approximately J$80 million. Commercial units during the academic year 2022– 2023 also made efforts towards achieving profitability. Notably, the University Bookshop recorded a 90 percent reduction in operating deficit for the period and achieved the highest increase in revenue for any one period, 76.9% over the previous year. The Faculty of Medical Sciences (FMS) continued to reach out to its alumni to promote an actively engaged and diverse alumni body. At the initiative of Professor Emeritus Sir George Alleyne, former Chancellor of The UWI, a more formal arrangement with the Medical Alumni for contribution to the FMS began with the intention of engaging alumni in funding and other activities. The Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) through its Resource Mobilization Unit (RMU) successfully pursued new grant funding from external sources during the academic year. The RMU has been pivotal to successfully maintaining existing partnerships and forging new collaborations with government ministries, private sector entities, external grant agencies, and alumni. The Unit also made substantial progress toward the launch of the FST Alumni Association scheduled for academic year 2023–2024. A notable precursor to this launch was the successful hosting of a 75 th Anniversary Alumni Brunch and Lyme event on July 16, 2023. The RMU continues to serve as the primary facilitator for negotiations pertaining to internal UWI processes concerning grant agreements and provides invaluable support for project oversight, affording principal investigators greater flexibility in the execution of their research tasks. Furthermore, the Unit exercises a strategic oversight role in managing the consistent growth of the Faculty’s Endowment Fund.
The Campus pursued several initiatives aimed at converting the University’s “reputational value into much needed revenue” (2022–2027 Strategic Plan). This was evident in the efforts at collaboration with overseas and local entities for partnership and investments in programmes that have development and economic value to our region. For example, the Turks and Caicos Islands Community College (TCICC) engaged our School of Nursing (UWISON) to place final year nursing students in its programme to gain clinical experiences at The University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI). This resulted in a joint memorandum of understanding among the UWI, the UHWI and the TCICC. The Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS) activated its Partnerships for Development Series aimed at increasing the number of international exchange programmes for students and staff, inviting guest lecturers to enrich the student experience in classes and co-hosting workshops and seminars, among other objectives. To this end, Ambassadors, Resident Representatives and Chargé D’affaires from Germany, Colombia, Costa Rica, Britain, The United Nations Population Fund, The Organization of American States, The Embassy of Argentina (Donation of books on the Falkland Islands), The Embassy of Germany (Entrepreneurship Training Programme), The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (expression of support for a possible project) and The High Commission of Canada actively participated. The FSS partnered with overseas universities as follows: • The new course “Caribbean Cultures and Heritage: Debating Cultural Curatorship” (SOCI6121) taught
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Yale University for their “Yale Research Initiative on Innovation and Scale” conference (Department of Economics) McGill University and the Tokyo Metropolitan University to strengthen international academic partnerships (Department of Government) Queen’s University, Smith Business School Partnership to strengthen international academic partnerships (The Mona School of Business and Management) Successful joint British Academy Grant application with the School of Advanced Studies at the
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University of London and Dr. Doreen Gordon (The Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work) to develop the writing skills of junior scholars at universities in the region. UWI Mona will be one of the locations where training will be carried out in January 2024. • Promotion of the BSc/MSc Politics and International Cooperation (MPIC) Programme through the Department of Government’s attendance at various events organized by the Embassy of France in Jamaica, and visits to the University of Sciences Po, Bordeaux.
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