Vice-Chancellor’s Report
AGILITY
In its customisation of the debt-swap, the Government of Barbados arranged for 50% of its arrears to be taken off the books and offered a Series B Bond with strips having maturities between five and fifteen years. The Government of Barbados entered into an arrangement to settle the amount outstanding on the Bond in two tranches payable in 2019 and 2020 respectively. Other governments made commitments of land. Grenada and The Bahamas have led the way in this regard. Vice-Chancellor Beckles has also been in communication with the Governments of Antigua and Barbuda and Jamaica, with regard to the transfer of lands on which The UWI is located, to the institution. The value of these lands would make a considerable
Our 2017-2022 Strategic Plan with its three pillars of Access , Alignment and Agility engendered tremendous impetus to a fundamental rethink of our operations, particularly in considering a new modus operandi with regard to our funding strategy. In February 2018, the conversation with our regional governments regarding the funding strategy took a new direction when the Heads of Government of CARICOM at their 29 th Inter-sessional Meeting received a presentation from Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles on strategies for financing not only The UWI but the regional tertiary education sector. Heads gave their blessing to The UWI exploring alternative financing strategies. They also mandated the Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr. The Hon. Timothy Harris to work with The UWI in engaging with contributing governments to address the arrears owed to The UWI. The engagement and diplomacy at this level resulted in an encouraging response from our government some of whom–Belize, the Cayman Islands, St. Kitts and Nevis, and the Turks and Caicos Islands– cleared their accounts as at July 31, 2018. Among the significant outcomes of the Inter-sessional meeting in Haiti was the agreement to the innovative debt-swapping arrangement . The Government of Trinidad and Tobago was the first to move, making available to The UWI the new state-of-the-art Couva Hospital and Multi Training Facility. A special partnership between the St. Augustine Campus and an external entity has now resulted in a proposal for an offshore for-profit medical training institution using the Couva Hospital as a base.
difference to the balance sheet and to potential future investors in The UWI.
Regional private sector finance leaders joined The UWI’s leadership in retreat to discuss mechanisms to bring the institution to market with investment instruments. Presentations by Professor Densil Williams, Pro Vice- Chancellor for Industry-Academic Partnerships, and the five Campus Principals outlined a roster of potential projects for private investments using bonds and Initial Public Offerings (IPO) options. Following on these discussions, a select strategy committee will begin the task of preparing the institution for investment readiness and carving the path to the private market.
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