“It’s reasonable to set some time limits.”
With those words, University of the West Indies Vice-Chancellor Professor Nigel Harris indicated support for Barbados’ plans to impose time limits on Bajans studying for degrees at the Cave Hill Campus with taxpayer financial support.
However, the Vice-Chancellor wants the Freundel Stuart administration to discuss its plan with the University at Cave Hill before it is cast in concrete.
“I think that under any circumstance a government providing funding for students, it can’t be indefinite,” the Vice-Chancellor told the SATURDAY?SUN in New York.
“One can’t keep going on and on. So, I think that it is reasonable to set some time limits. I think what one wants to be assured of is that whatever is set is based on discussions between the campus (Cave Hill) and the Government because I believe both are very reasonable people.”
Harris added: “There are students who come in, [who] may need some preliminary work to get up to speed, and that hard fact of life should be taken into consideration by the Government.
“Even in the United States the percentage graduating on time is, certainly at the best schools, not 100 per cent,” he pointed out. “At some schools it is more like 75 per cent or even less. So it is not unexpected that students may not graduate in the period of time.”
Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler has set a three-year graduation time limit for full-time students and has tacked on an extra year for part-time students.
Harris, Sir George Alleyne, UWI Chancellor; Dr Bhoendrodat Tewari, Pro-Vice Chancellor at St Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago; and David Dinkins, a former Mayor of New York City were among the 200-plus guests at a dinner given by the American Foundation for the University of the West Indies.
It was held at the luxurious Pierre Hotel in Manhattan.
