FRANCHISING

Franchising, as far as the UWI and Colleges are concerned, is an arrangement whereby the UWI allows a College to deliver its Years 1 & 2 programmes.  Part of the requirements for granting the franchise is that the UWI Faculty members visit the College in order to ensure that standards and quality of programmes are maintained.

This paper is intended to highlight the benefits of the franchise to the three Colleges in the Non-Campus Countries and the UWI faculty members.  The three Colleges involved in this arrangement are: Antigua State College (1988), the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College (1988) and the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College (1999).  The benefits which accrue relate to staff development; quality assurance of programmes; savings to government and savings to students.

BENEFITS OF FRANCHISE

Staff Development

When one refers to staff development, one means equipping staff members with the necessary skills to function effectively and efficiently in the respective jobs.  This, the franchise, through the delivery process tries to achieve. When a UWI Faculty member visits one of those Colleges, he/she interacts with the College lecturers and by so doing has an opportunity to observe the methods and level of course presentation and  this in turn will allow the Faculty member to identify areas of weakness in the programme itself and in the actual delivery.  In this way both parties are able to have meaningful discussions on programme delivery.

Another factor which has contributed to staff development is the confidence which the UWI Administration has placed in the College staff not only in their capacity  to deliver its Levels 1 & 2 programmes but affording them the opportunity to make an input into the examination questions and to be second examiners for its programmes.  Those activities to some extent  have encouraged staff to improve their skills to cope with the new challenges

Faculty member also meet with the College Administration and the meeting plays an important role in programme delivery and staff development. Through these meetings,  the UWI lecturer gets a chance to discuss the strengths and weaknesses in the delivery of the programmes and where necessary, he/she makes interventions and/or recommendations which may involve suggestions for relevant refresher courses and attachments for some College staff.

Quality Assurance

Quality Assurance is a way of ensuring that the quality of the offering at the Colleges is equivalent to the offering at the UWI. To see that quality is maintained, the Faculty members ensure that the identical course materials, reading materials, assignments and tests which are given to the campus based students are also given to the College students.  Other ways of ensuring quality are the uses made of teleconferencing, internet facility and telephone conversation and also through the activities associated with the monitoring visits.

When a UWI Faculty member visits a College, he/she moderates students’ scripts and discusses course assessment  and so doing, he/she assists in promoting consistency in marking and maintaining UWI quality and standards.  The visit also affords the faculty member a chance to observe and evaluate practical laboratory sessions, assess library stock and give suggestions where necessary.  What is important in this arrangement is that the College lecturer participates.  The benefit to the UWI Faculty member is a first hand view of what is happening in the Colleges and the opportunity to meet and interact with colleagues and College students.

Savings to Government and Students

Each contributing country pays to the UWI an annual fee to cover cost for its sponsored students but where a franchise is operating, savings accrue to both the government and the students.  This is not only because the TLI delivery cost is less than that of UWI but also because of the students’ savings on travel costs and living expenses.

CONCLUSION

Feedback from staff and students of the Colleges and from UWI lecturers indicated that the franchise arrangements have been mainly  successful.  This success can be attributed to the hard work and dedication of the College lecturers, the motivation of the students  to succeed, the availability of reading materials and laboratory equipment and facilities and the effectiveness of the monitoring visits. Ms. Peecheeta Spencer, Principal of the Antigua State College in her article Wonderful Partnership captures how the College views the franchising arrangement. “The impact on other departments is a positive one.  In the Advanced Level Department, there is a significant improvement in the quality of passes.  Bearing in mind that the lecturers in this department also teach in the University programmes, it is not surprising that preparation to teach the UWI courses and the interaction with the UWI lecturers have deepened their knowledge, experience and professional skills.”

Sources: TT TLIU Lightrays Vol 3.

Mrs Kieran St. Rose is Planning/Administrative Assistant at the TLIU (Cave Hill Campus) of the University of the West Indies