The UWI prioritises quality as “everyone’s business”
Staff and students across the regional University participate in UWI Quality Day
The UWI Regional Headquarters Jamaica. December 6, 2019—On Thursday, November 14, staff and students across the five campuses of The University of the West Indies (The UWI) joined the globe in celebrating World Quality Day. Dubbing it ‘UWI Quality Day’, campuses recognised the international observance for the first time and paid tribute to the contributions of The UWI’s quality professionals.
The initiative also forms part of a wider programme by The UWI. For the last two years, the institution has increased attention to quality assurance for administrative processes and launched its Quality Policy in February 2018. The Policy recognises the importance of quality assurance for administrative processes and formalises various regulations which previously served as a quality assurance mechanism in the various UWI spaces.
Cross-campus Quality Day events included a quality exhibition, panel discussion as well as a quality song competition along with other live performances at Mona and an information session at St Augustine. Games and videos and Facebook live seminars were among the activities shared across the Cave Hill and Open campuses as well as at the University’s Regional Headquarters, based in Jamaica. At the new Five Islands Campus in Antigua and Barbuda, there was a special workshop to introduce the staff to The UWI’s governance structure, policies, and regulations governing all aspects of quality. During the month of November, as part of its Quality agenda, the University also conducted a student quality survey to establish students’ perceptions on various dimensions of quality.
Professor Clive Landis, who serves as Pro Vice-Chancellor and Chair of the Board for Undergraduate Studies (BUS), and Chair of The UWI’s Quality Management Team commented: “We really wanted to share the message that quality is everyone’s business”. He added, “While we have always operated with a commitment to high quality as validated in our top ranking by the prestigious Times Higher Education, our University’s Quality Policy represents an important instrument for deepening the quality culture and developing The UWI’s Quality Management System. This will allow us to better serve all our stakeholders.”
Remarking further, Professor Landis expressed his appreciation for all the support for The UWI’s inaugural UWI Quality Day activities, and especially commended the students’ active involvement in the survey exercise, which concluded on November 29. He said, “The survey findings will contribute to continuous quality enhancement in all areas of service to, and relationships with our students.”
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For more information on The UWI Quality Policy visit: http://www.uwi.edu/quality/
Photos:
Available for download at https://flic.kr/s/aHsmJQVvRq
Photo Captions:
- Cavehill_1: Quality Assurance workshop at Cave Hill Campus.
- FI_1: Professor Clive Landis, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Chair of the Board for Undergraduate Studies (BUS) speaking at the Quality Assurance staff training at The UWI’s newest campus – Five Islands in Antigua and Barbuda.
- FI_2: Professor Stafford Griffith, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal, UWI Five Islands (standing) engages workshop participants.
- Mona_1: Professor Dale Webber, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal, UWI Mona shows off his quality drumming talents.
- Mona_2: The audience gets interactive at Mona’s quality day event.
- StA_1: Professor Indar Ramnarine, Deputy Principal and Chair of The St. Augustine Campus Quality Management Team engages visitors at the Campus Quality Booth.
- StA_2: “Quality” is the talking point at the St. Augustine Campus.
- Open_1: Screenshot from Open Campus’ Facebook Live Session: "Quality Special Collection".
- Open_2: Screenshot from Open Campus’ Facebook Live Session: "Quality Special Collection".
About The UWI
For over 70 years The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has provided service and leadership to the Caribbean region and wider world. The UWI has evolved from a university college of London in Jamaica with 33 medical students in 1948 to an internationally respected, regional university with near 50,000 students and five campuses: Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago, Cave Hill in Barbados, Five Islands in Antigua and Barbuda and an Open Campus. As part of its robust globalization agenda, The UWI has established partnering centres with universities in North America, Latin America, Asia, and Africa including the State University of New York (SUNY)-UWI Center for Leadership and Sustainable Development; the Canada-Caribbean Studies Institute with Brock University; the Strategic Alliance for Hemispheric Development with Universidad de los Andes (UNIANDES); the UWI-China Institute of Information Technology, the University of Lagos (UNILAG)-UWI Institute of African and Diaspora Studies and the Institute for Global African Affairs with the University of Johannesburg (UJ). The UWI offers over 800 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Social Sciences and Sport.
As the region’s premier research academy, The UWI’s foremost objective is driving the growth and development of the regional economy. The world’s most reputable ranking agency, Times Higher Education, has ranked The UWI among the top 600 universities in the world for 2019 and 2020, and the 40 best universities in Latin America and the Caribbean for 2018 and 2019. The UWI has been the only Caribbean-based university to make the prestigious lists. For more, visit www.uwi.edu.
