FACED with a 20 per cent slash in its operating budget this year, the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona is instituting measures to improve the management of its operational costs without cutting back its services.

Among the measures is a process to standardise academic staff responsibilities and salary arrangements. Additionally, the 62-year-old institution is changing equipment to save energy, but says there will be no downsizing of course offerings because of the financial crunch.

“Our focus is not only on cost containment. It is about transforming the institution to be more competitive and able to sustain itself well into the future,” principal Professor Gordon Shirley told Career & Education in an exclusive interview.

Government’s subvention to the regional institution for the 2010-2011 academic year was slashed by about $1 billion or about 20 per cent, as a result of decision to rebalance resources to the education sector.

Education minister Andrew Holness indicated last year that Government was pumping more resources into early childhood and primary education, while slashing the amount allocated to tertiary education.

“From the outset, we have sent the signal that there would have to be a restructuring and rebalancing in the way in which tertiary education is funded,” Holness said a year ago.

Shirley admitted that UWI is facing challenges because of the cut, but dismissed rumours that it will result in significant downsizing of staff or programmes. He noted, however, that the roles and responsibilities of academic staff has been overhauled to achieve in greater accountability and savings.

“We have carried out analysis of the teaching load carried by the academic department as well as the research activities. The objective of that is to ensure that everybody is carrying their weight,” Shirley said.

It is not that academic staffers were shirking their responsibilities, the principal stated; but rather that some had become more involved in administrative activities to the point that their academic and research functions had suffered as a result. The streamlining of staff contracts and payment schedules to facilitate better planning was underway, he said.

“We have operated in a fairly decentralised way, and over time things get done differently in different parts of the university. What we would like is a consistent way of dealing with all staffing matters across the campus. In that process, we have highlighted a number of areas and identified opportunities for cost saving by shifting to best practice,” he said.