Every child in Jamaica should have access to tertiary eduation Ruel Reid, Minister of Education, Youth & Information has said, and he has committed to ensuring that financial circumstances do not prevent this.

Addressing the annual meetings of the Technical Advisory Committees of The University of the West Indies (UWI) last Tuesday the Minister said “no poor child that is qualified to attend university should be denied the opportunity”.

“It cannot be that Government is investing money and the most vulnerable do not get the opportunity; the role of a university is to help solve a country’s social and economic problems”, Minister Reid added.

Reid congratulated The UWI for organising itself to respond to current and future needs of Jamaica and the region.

Addressing the meeting, which included permanent secretaries responsible for tertiary education and finance across The UWI’s 17 contributing countries, Minister Reid said the meeting came at a time when the realignment and reconfiguration of financial support for The UWI by contributing governments must serve its members.

“We have no problem investing in education but we have to adopt a liberal approach to reach even the poorest of the poor”, the Minister declared.

In his remarks, The UWI Vice-Chancellor, Prof Sir Hilary Beckles said that the university which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, “has ticked every box possible to ensure we created a fine university.”

He said that “good leadership in the government sectors and a supportive private sector and graduates who fly The UWI flag high and distinguished themselves, have contributed to our success.”

Sir Hilary said that now “we must turn the corner to see resources extended to this university not as expenditure but as investment.”

“It should be seen as investment in building the resources of our countries; an investment in our youth.”

The Vice-Chancellor said that the strategic plan of The UWI 2017-2022 focuses on a “triple ‘A’ strategy of Access, Alignment and Agility”. He said that a more accessible, aligned UWI can lead the revitalisation of Caribbean development.

Last week, a UWI delegation met with Heads of Government in Haiti to discuss the strategic alignment of The UWI with regional economies, the sustainability of the university’s funding model and the debt owed to the institution by some governments.

The meeting in Jamaica last week reviewed budgets for the biennium 2018–2020 for the four campuses, its vice-chancellery and the University Hospital of the West Indies, with recommendations made to the grants committees. The grants committees are then expected to review and approve the recommendations and advance them to the annual business meeting of Council for final approval in April 2018.

Technical Advisory Committees are rotated annually across The UWI’s 17 contributing countries. The Government of Jamaica last hosted the meetings in 2012.