The University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill Campus is on course to surpass the student enrolment of about 6 000 it had last year, which would mean three straight years of increased enrolment.
At the same time, campus officials have revealed that over $1 million in support was extended to students over the past academic year, which included the writing off of student fees.
Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the UWI, Cave Hill Campus Professor the Most Honourable Eudine Barriteau and Deputy Principal of the Cave Hill Campus Professor Winston Moore shared the information with journalists during a press conference on Thursday.
Although unable to give exact figures, Barriteau said there was a slight uptick in the number of applications for the upcoming academic year, when compared to the same period last year.
“We were very surprised, because we expected there would be a decline in enrolment, and when we compared statistics for the academic year before, to the academic year under COVID, we had a marginal increase and that was pleasantly surprising,” she said.
However, the principal was quick to add that with the university still accepting applications, the true enrolment numbers would not be known until towards the end of August to early September when prospective students receive their Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) certificates and actually decide to register.
In September 2020, the Cave Hill Campus welcomed some 6 000 new students, which was a two per cent increase over the previous year when enrollment numbers reached just over 5,800. That figure was more than 12 per cent higher over 2018, after Government took the decision to resume paying undergraduate tuition fees for citizens attending the UWI.
“All indications are that there will also be an increase in student numbers in the current academic year. How we do that, we compare the applications to date with applications for the similar period the year before and the applications are up,” declared Barriteau.
However, she added: “Students apply, we make offers and when they accept those offers they are then registered and we can say definitely, by the time of matriculation, whether or not there is an increase. But the indication is that there will be an increase. You would think that because things have been hard [it would not increase], but it seems, and this is speculation, that persons are saying ‘I better get qualified now or never’. We don’t know the reason but there has been an increase.”
It was estimated that about 71 per cent of the student population at the Cave Hill Campus in 2019 were Barbadians.
Professor Moore reported that the Cave Hill Campus has been providing financial and other assistance to students, pointing out that “this has been a really difficult time for our students both financially as well as mentally”.
Indicating that many students’ parents suffered job losses over the past year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Moore said that in addition to offering counselling services, the Cave Hill Campus offered debt relief.
“One of the things I am very proud of is that the university provided support to our students in the tune of over $1 million last year in terms of writing off student fees, providing grants and those types of things. This is a campus that is suffering financially as well . . . but we were able to provide over $1 million in support to our students,” he said.
Professor Moore added that the Cave Hill Campus was also planning to provide financial aid grants to students for the upcoming academic year.
“This is something we are planning to continue in the future, so it provides support to students that might not have the ability to come to UWI because of the financial challenges. We will provide the support,” he said, adding that the private sector and regional governments have also been very helpful.
Barriteau also noted that the UWI, which also has physical campuses in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Antigua, had obtained a grant from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and acquired laptops to be issued to students in need. This was also done during the last academic year.
“It was a very rough environment for students and parents but the Cave Hill Campus went out of its way, like other campuses, to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on our student body and that continues today. So we are helping them to [navigate] this environment, and dealing with COVID and normalizing the effects as much as possible,” said Barriteau.
(marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb)
