Vice-Chancellor's Report to University Council 2018/2019

SPORTS CARIBBEAN

University’s Strategic Plan. In the social arena the University has had decades of outstanding results. It began with taking its share of responsibility for achieving quality public living. It ends with a commitment to serve and to be seen as a passionate, resolute partner in humanity’s quest for the best imagined civic existence. Sport is the interdisciplinary crossroads within grassroots and academic communities. It is the juncture where multiple programmes contend for the attention of youth and students. Appropriate facilities will enable access to professional engagement and the creation of lifelong career options in areas such as: • sports medicine • biomechanics • events management • media, broadcast and communications • arbitration and contract law • entrepreneurship and innovation • entertainment and community celebrations finance and marketing project management heritage and culture education and literature digital imagery, etc. Partnering for progress is the key that opens the door to the future. As the Caribbean community seeks to be a competitive participant in the global world, daily demonstrating its determination to achieve success with dignified, indigenous activity, its leading ranked university has chosen to reach out for support in the area of sport and youth empowerment. It seeks to be a continued energy source that inspires as it empowers.

One area in which the University has enabled Caribbean citizens to make phenomenal contributions to their nations, the Caribbean region, North America, and the global community, is sport. Measured in terms of performance excellence and community participation, the impact has been positive in all areas of engagement. Sustaining this legacy of service requires an injection of significant capital resources, considerably beyond the capacity of the University. A support system designed around capital cooperation is necessary in order to strengthen and sustain this tradition of service. ‘Sports Caribbean’ is a globally respected brand built upon and around best practices in teaching, learning, research, performance and community advocacy. In this era of global benchmarking, the University is called upon to elevate its roles to a higher level of sophistication in order to meet current and future needs. Existing facilities, programmes and inter-disciplinary connections required to advance along this trajectory are now largely inadequate. An effective upgrade of the sport eco- system is necessary in order to sustain the noble efforts of former generations. Only The University of the West Indies can provide the quality assured programmes, supportive facilities and support services to meet the needs of youth whose preference is to stay on the court rather than be in the courts. Community security and youth culture intersect within this context. The concept of ‘peace at the crease’ resonates within communities keen to facilitate conflict resolution among youth whose identities of social marginalisation and economic disempowerment are empirically evident.

For these reasons, enhancing the positive relationship between sport and the development of the finest citizenship values is a primary outcome of the

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