STUDENTS enrolled in hotel and tourism management (special) programmes offered by The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, feel they have had the rug pulled from under them as a result of delivery changes made in the wake of the the novel coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter to the students, dated August 11, The UWI advised that the Centre for Hotel and Tourism Management (CHTM) in Nassau, The Bahamas, which facilitates the second and third years of study, has taken “the long and hard decision to suspend operations for the academic year in the first instance”.

With this development students have been given the options to remain as Mona campus hotel or tourism management students and pursue a different minor of their choice, transfer into another tourism-related programme on any UWI campus, or transfer into any other UWI degree programme for which they have the matriculation requirements. Second-year students have also been given the option to defer their applications to the 2021-2022 academic year.

But these amendments, coupled with the fact that the university sent out the advisory just last week, have left students with much angst.

The students say this has heightened the challenges for many, primary among them being uncertainty regarding the exact changes in tuition costs, as they are not enrolled in a self-financed (subsidised) course, as well as the implications for those students who have programme-specific loans.

There are also concerns about the numbers of facilitators for courses in the faculty, as well as the ease with which students may be transferred to and subsumed into existing programmes.

CHTM student executive president and hotel management (special) student Kasheena Graham explained to the Jamaica Observer that the new terms present much unpredictability for students so close to the start of the new academic year, which will affect student performance.

“We were expecting to continue our studies online due to the pandemic, only to be presented with options that will be further discussed on August 20th, just 18 days before the beginning of semester one,” she lamented .

The letter to students, signed by University Registrar Maurice D Smith, invites them to a virtual town hall meeting via Zoom on August 20. The letter goes on to say that The UWI has been “carefully reviewing our entire operations and programme offerings” and, as a consequence, has been forced into these changes.

Public relations officer and hotel management (special) student Brandon Vassell said that The UWI is downplaying the impact of the decision on students: “It is very unfortunate that our programme is being disbanded in the midst of our studies. The student populace is put at a major disadvantage on all angles. UWI states that the options being provided will be in the best interest of the student; however, they seem to lack the ability to comprehend the extent of that claim as none of the proposed options tend to benefit any of the students of the CHTM.

“My major concern lies with our tuition fees. Since we are being forced to choose another major in the tourism field, our tuition for the speciality programme no longer applies,” Vassell told the Observer.

Another tourism management (special) student, who opted not to be named, said: “UWI is not really looking out for the best interests of the students. If that were the case they would have allowed us to finish the degree online, rather than asking tourism management (special) students to switch to tourism management while doing a minor.”

Hotel management (special) student Abigail Todd, for her part, said: “It’s like we were forgotten. It is unfair that we have limited options for a minor. It would make sense that we get the option to do a minor in tourism management since we are already required to do the same courses. Also, we are left in the dark about practicals. How is it fair that we are now just being notified in a vague e-mail, then have to wait an additional week to have a Zoom meeting?”

Of note, this decision would have been impacted by restrictions on travel to The Bahamas currently imposed by its Government, as well as those in place from many other countries within the region.

Tourism management (special) student Moesha Bess said, “I’m devastated, especially since I am a Bajan who will have to move to Jamaica on such short notice.

“Uprooting us every few months is contrary to those rights, and the way they are informing us is highly insensitive to our situation. I have big plans for the Caribbean’s tourism industry and I need to know that my degree is not a joke at the end of the three years,” Bess continued.

The UWI maintains that pre-existing chronic financial constraints were further exacerbated by the pandemic, resulting in the campus-wide adjustments.

Meanwhile, addressing the virtual graduation ceremony for participants in the online training programme for tourism workers on August 12, Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett indicated that discussions are under way to have the operations of the CHTM in The Bahamas relocated to Jamaica.

“Tourism workers and persons interested in tourism and hospitality will now have a wider array of courses to choose from and gain certification,” he said then, without indicating how advanced such talks were.