THE UNIVERSITY OF the West Indies and the Human Resource Management Association of Barbados (HRMAB) have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to guide their future cooperation.
The signing took place yesterday in the main administration building of the university’s Cave Hill campus, St Michael.
Dr Philmore Alleyne, head of the Department of Management Studies at the UWI, said the MOU would help the university move from the solely theoretical to the practical side of human resource management.
“The MOU is part of an arrangement where we are attempting to form a relationship with the private sector; too often we have been criticized for only [focusing on] theoretical issues and not the practical ones . . . so this becomes a perfect marriage,” he said.
Alleyne said HRMAB could now assist the university in its curriculum development as well as with research where students could go into the various organizations and identify the various issues there.
“Questions such as recruitment and selection; why workers are unproductive – the only way you can know is if you go down to Bridgetown and into the corporate boardrooms of organizations,” he said.
Alleyne said there were also opportunities for research funding but the real justification of the MOU was to have the university become more relevant.
“There is a belief that here at UWI, there is a disconnect, that you are talking above everyone else and this will help change that,” he said.
President of HRMAB, Glenda Gilkes, said research would be a major aspect of the MOU.
“One of the tenets of the MOU is developing research and we can benefit from that by developing programmes for our membership and other HR practitioners,” she said.
Gilkes said she also hoped the partnership would assist UWI students through mentorship programmes and career development opportunities and advice.
The parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education Senator Harry Husbands said the signing was a significant development for HRMAB and for HR management in Barbados but came with a certain level of responsibility.
“Working with an institution like the University of the West Indies places greater responsibility on the Human Resource Management Association of Barbados to further professionalize its organization and administration in order to build capacity,” he said. (CA)
