GOVT OWES UWI OVER ONE BILLION IN TUITION

CCNTV6

Against the backdrop of decreasing government subventions over the years, suppressed enrolment and stagnant tuition fees, UWI St. Augustine is also reporting over a billion dollars in government receivables. Meantime the Campus is working hard to boost its own coffers. Rynessa Cutting has more from the 2024/2025 annual report.

Transcript

00:00Trinidad and Tobago prides itself on its once free, now highly subsidized tertiary education.

00:07However, the government and the University of the West Indies

00:11continue to carry the strain of this critical component of national development.

00:16The government's subvention, of course, we all know the story about tuition fees

00:21has not been increased for 25 years now.

00:25The only campus that has not seen an increase.

00:28We've seen the enrollment challenges beginning to improve.

00:33We still have outstanding receivables, $1.55 billion.

00:37And this is money owed us from fees, government fees,

00:42that hopefully we will be able to get some leeway with that.

00:46Government subventions have also been on the downward trend.

00:50In 2022, the then government reduced its annual contribution by $500 million.

00:58Government contributions were held constant at $4.66.3 million from 2022 to 2025,

01:05resulting in some operational deficits in each of those four years.

01:08Well, it's important to note that in 25-26, the government did increase their contributions

01:13by $33.8 million to cover increased staff costs associated with the settlement of negotiations

01:19with WIGGOT and the SDPB's Association.

01:23These deficits have progressively declined due to prudent financial management and targeted cost containment measures,

01:30but the cumulative impact on campus operations has been debilitating.

01:35Enrollment has also been declining.

01:37However, campus principal Rosemary Bellantwine is hopeful that it is seeing an increase once more.

01:45But the good news is that we have actually seen an increase.

01:49So from this year, we did see a decrease before COVID and so,

01:53but we've now beginning to see uptick, an increase both in undergrad and postgrad.

02:00We were up 1% overall in undergrad, but 5% in postgrad, so an overall 2%.

02:09Finances are looking good on the research side of things, however,

02:13with UWE St. Augustine receiving $10 million from the government,

02:17as well as international funding.

02:20Over $9.5 million U.S. dollars, that's a lot of money.

02:25It's very important, though, to say that when we get this money,

02:29it is used only for research, not for institutional purposes.

02:33I can't fix a roof with it, for example.

02:35In this regard, the UWE St. Augustine has been working hard

02:40on its revenue-generating mechanisms and new business ventures, like UWE Optical.

02:45What's important here about UWE Optical, which is placed at the Coover Medical Facility,

02:51is that it has probably the best equipment in the country at this point in time,

02:57including a $300,000 fast-grind lens, which was donated,

03:02and it's also looking at competitive pricing.

03:06The university is also proud to announce its foray into AI development.

03:11The AI Center is the first and largest center dedicated to indigenous AI creation.

03:19I also want to emphasize that.

03:21So what our center is focusing on is creating AI, not just using AI.

03:26Renasa Cutting, TV6 News.

03:32Renasa Cutting, TV6 News, TV6 News, TV6 News, TV6 News, TV6 News, TV6 News, TV6 News, TV6 News, TV6 News,

03:32TV6 News, TV6 News, TV6 News, TV6 News, TV6 News, TV6 News, TV6 News, TV6 News, TV6 News, TV6 News,

03:32TV6 News, TV6 News, TV6 News, TV6 News, TV6 News,

Category

Transcript

Comments

Recommended