The data wasn’t new. But given the fact that 75 per cent of the persons graduating from the University of the West Indies (UWI) Friday were women, Chancellor Sir Shridath Ramphal could not help but express concern about the glaringly disproportionate ratio of male to female students leaving the regional institution.

According to Ramphal, of the “more than 5,000 qualified professionals graduating from the UWI campuses this year, only one in four is male”. He also pointed out that not only were 75 per cent of graduates female, but women accounted for 80 per cent of all First Class (honours) degrees awarded this year. The chancellor described this as a “magnificent achievement by women. but an inglorious performance by men”.

“Over the years, I have mentioned this trend ad nauseum,” Ramphal told the first day of the UWI’s two-day graduation exercise.

And, in an indication that the university would be taking steps to meet this challenge, he expressed hope that “we can look to its reversal in the interest of men and women, in the interest of the university and in the interest of our wider Caribbean”.

The presentation of graduates of the UWI’s Mona campus took place Friday and yesterday, during which honorary degrees were conferred on Professor Ted Chamberlin, Kenneth Ingram and Ernest Ranglin on Friday, while yesterday’s honorary graduands were Emerita Professor Sylvia Wynter and Ambassador Don Mills.

At Friday evening’s conferment of honorary doctor of letters (DLitt) degrees, the university’s honorary public orator, Emeritus Professor Edward Baugh, read citations which eloquently described the achievements of the graduands.

Professor Ted Chamberlin was described as “a revolutionary humanist”. He is senior professor and past principal of New College, University of Toronto and is one of North America’s pre-eminent authorities on literature of the Caribbean. His involvement with the UWI spans both the academic community on all three campuses and the wider West Indian society.

Ingram is a founding member and twice president of the Jamaica Library Association. A retired UWI librarian, his remarkable lifetime work identifies the source material on which current and subsequent generations of historians of the West Indies can build.

In introducing Ranglin, Professor Baugh declared “we honour genius”. Over the last 30 years, Ranglin has been consistently rated amongst the top three guitarists in the world. He was central to the creation of popular Jamaican music such as Ska and Reggae and has worked as arranger, musical director and musician with the who’s who of Jamaican popular music. His mastery of the jazz form is renowned.