News Releases

'One Graduate’ Strategy a Worthy Nation Building Objective

For Release Upon Receipt - November 5, 2009

Cave Hill


Barbadians need to see the benefits of having one university graduate per household as far greater than just preparing young citizens for specific jobs.

That’s according to Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies and Principal of the Cave Hill Campus, Sir Hilary Beckles, who stressed that in a knowledge-based society “the informed citizens” which UWI produces provide benefit well beyond the workplace.

Speaking as the lone guest on CBC television’s The People’s Business programme on Sunday, November 1, Sir Hilary defended Cave Hill’s often-touted objective of producing at least one university graduate in every Barbadian household.

He stated: “It is s strategy that will serve this country well. It has been adopted already by Dominica, St. Vincent and other islands… The one-graduate-per-household strategy … is a vision which says: ‘How are we going to shift our society to a higher level of knowledge absorption…? How are we going to convert every citizen into a highly informed and very relevant person to manage the issues in society?’

“Now if you consider the sociology of our societies, the most reliable strategy out of poverty in all our Caribbean countries has been access to higher education. There are other strategies, but this has been the most reliable. We have found from research that when a household produces a graduate, the other siblings tend to follow, and sometimes the parents [as well].

“So by situating a graduate … in the household, it represents a catalyst – the household is transformed forever. It will never be the same. So what we are speaking about is converting all our households to knowledge households. Importantly, we are targeting the working class families. We are saying that at the moment access to university education across the region tends to be confined largely to the lower middleclass and middle classes, but we want to bring all of the working class families into the higher education systems, into university.

“We are saying to every household in Barbados -- and there are about 110 000 households give or take a few percentage points -- that we want you to focus on the education of your children, to get them into university. We want you to see this as part of your mobility. We want you to see this as your up-from-poverty culture that we have been dealing with historically. Most of us are a landless people without assets and education is what we have.”

Sir Hilary said he took the success of the strategy personally, since he was the product of a working class family, was the first to attend university, but was followed by all his siblings.

“I believe we can set this model and standard for all households in Barbados and the Caribbean,” he added.

Sir Hilary told his national audience he also sees access to higher education as part of the full democratisation of a nation, even if each graduate is not immediately able to find his or her “preferred job”.

“I believe in full democratic access to education. The purpose of access to higher education is not to pursue the finest job available, but it is all part of human development as a citizen and a human being. I believe that university education should be accessible to all. In any society, knowledge and skills and certainly intellectual ability, are scattered across all races, and if in a society you do not enable the widest possible access, what you are doing is not using your intellectual resources wisely. And if your institution is blocking access by significant sections of the society because of poverty or some other consideration, then that society is acting irrationally.

“The university is here as an institution for the empowerment of every citizen and therefore the doors of that system ought to be wide open. There will always be challenges for a percentage of your graduates who might have difficulty pursuing their preferred choice… (because) the post-graduation world is a turbulent one.

“A very small percentage of graduates actually go straight to the spaces they want to go into – you have to move around… But individuals find their path eventually … It may take three years, or it may take ten years, but you will find your way. Meanwhile, you are adding value to your society as a highly informed citizen and we will see the value in your social conduct and political behaviour and your contribution to your community… The purpose of university education is not simply to prepare the person for a specific job, but to prepare you to be the finest person you can be in your society -- to build your country going forward.”

The acceptance and success of Cave Hill’s programme and physical expansion can be seen in the number of enrolled students, the principal pointed out, noting that six years ago there were 2,000 students at the campus.

“You can’t say in a population of 260,000 people that you have 2,000 students in your university and you are a knowledge-based economy… We have just about 10,000 right now and we are just about approaching the dynamism that a society needs in its university environment…

“We now have exciting undergraduate and post-graduate programmes in all of the areas we would expect our citizens to be informed. We are now approaching … the top end of relevancy… We are making the transition now into being a research university where a larger proportion of our students are doing innovative and creative research and there are more PhD programmes, especially in areas like energy, tourism, banking, finance, culture, entertainment, sports – creating innovative solutions to problems. The public of Barbados has responded to our call, also in the region and internationally …”

While giving an assurance of ensuring that quality would not be compromised through expansion,  the principal added that Cave Hill’s administration is pressing ahead with policies designed to constantly review the university’s work to ensure it remains relevant to the needs of the societies its serves.

“The main purpose of a university is to serve the nation. We look at Barbados and the region and ask: What kinds of programmes, systems and research initiatives must our societies have going into the future...? We need to look at energy… It is going to be very important. We have heard the Prime Minister speak about it. We have heard Minister Darcy Boyce rolling out a strategy, and we are engaged in a discussion with Minister Boyce in terms of funding of research in energy.

“We have to move toward solar energy. We have to delve into energy conservation... We have developed the Energy Group at Cave Hill. We have just completed a comprehensive energy audit at the campus, setting out the expenditure and the kinds of investments we have to make in terms of setting an example for the country in terms of where energy research ought to go.

“We are concerned also about the challenges facing investors in tourism. We must have at Cave Hill, a state-of-the-art research enterprise in tourism and hospitality. We are going to invest in that development and we are going to consider the ways in which it will work closely with government, investors, the private sector and the community… We are going to speak to institutional development and research in these areas.”

 

 

 

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