About GCAS

Overview of the UWI Global Campus Academy of Sport

Mission:

To champion grassroot sport development in the UWI-14, through the development, integration and implementation of realistic and relevant sporting policy.

Vision:

To serve as an intra-regional institution, working with the various Ministries with the responsibility for sport, to identify sporting needs, develop the national sporting frameworks and infrastructure which will enable them to achieve their policy mandates through measurable and impactful sport development.

Operational Strategies:

The GCAS, unlike its academy counterparts in the landed campus countries, is tasked with the implementation of faculty mandates across the islands which make up the UWI-14: This includes the countries of:

The focus of the organization is the development of sport in these regions through programming, both academic and continuing professional education (CPE), outreach, events and activities.

It has been identified that the approach to sport development in the region, leaves much to be desired.  Many of the regional jurisdictions boast national policies on sport, however there lacks a national system and framework (infrastructural and administrative) to support said national policies.  A deeper investigation revealed that many of said jurisdictions operational plans and sport intervention mechanisms ( programmes, projects and initiatives) are developed without consultation or alignment to their national sport policies.  The GCAS has thus identified the need to work with said jurisdictions towards this national alignment.  The strategic approach adopted revolves around policy review, development and integration. 

Ministries of Sport around the region have been approached with the goal of sensitizing the various  ministers on the work of the Academy.  Policy assistance is offered towards development and/or renewal or review of national policies on sport, with supplementary assistance towards the implementation of said policies.  This allows for the integration of the operation and strategic mandates of the Academy into the institutional and national frameworks of the jurisdictions. To date, introductions have been made in Antigua and Barbuda, St. Lucia, Dominica, Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago.  Policy assistance has been rendered to Tobago, Grenada, St. Lucia  and Dominica.  This integration will assist with the achievement of the strategic mandates of the academy, as well as facilitate the integration into the national sport framework.  This will then enable greater access and delivery of outreach activity, academic and technical programmes and a range of initiatives geared towards the achievement of operational strategies.

Approaches To  Strategic Operations

Outreach

There exists tremendous potential for the GCAS to spearhead grassroots sport development in the Caribbean, specifically the UWI 14 County Sites.  Emphasis has to be placed on those areas which have been historically neglected but are tantamount to achieve sport development in the region.  The area of human capital development has to be pursued to this end.  As such it is proposed that the GCAS facilitates the development of National Governing Bodies of Sport as well as the cross-sectional groups that exist in the region which have some mandate with regard to sport development.  This would entail those sport, youth and cultural groups.  This proposed development will be offered through collaborations with the government, established regional and local agencies which can be approached to fund or offset the cost of subscriptions to the envisioned programmes.

Outreach in this sense takes the form of partnering with the local sporting organizations and groups to offer developmental assistance through event planning, policy development, organization reform, conducting market research and analysis, training etc., all of which are geared towards designing specific programmes to meet the needs identified as well as to align the operations with the development objectives of the GCAS. This facility can also be extended to the secondary schools within the UWI 14, hosting open days to raise awareness as well as introduce potential applicants to the programmes offered by the GCAS.  These sessions can take the form of seminars which focus on career planning and guidance.

Programme Development and Establishment

In the area of programme development, the focus is to have the GCAS serve as a conduit linking secondary school, college graduates and continuing education students to higher education through the offer of remedial programmes which facilitate the achievement of entry requirements.  Additionally, the vision for programmes of GCAS should replicate a dragnet design which seeks to attract individuals who are on the outskirts and beyond the remit of the academic institutions.  Moreso, the GCAS should cater to the needs of the sporting fraternity by offering seminars, workshops, certificate course, and diplomas which all culminate in a progressive system geared towards the pursuit and achievement of higher education, certification and attainment of academic qualifications.  There is also the opportunity for the GCAS to partner with international organizations to facilitate the collaborative hosting of certification programmes in the region through both online and face to face programmes.

Activities & Events

Through the outreach programme, GCAS can play an integral role in supporting sporting bodies in the region in the planning, development and hosting of international and regional sporting activities.  GCAS can also take lead in conceptualizing, marketing and hosting sport tourism activities and especially need-specific sporting events in the various country sites through collaborations which seek to emphasize the use of ‘Sport for Development” and “Sport Tourism”.

In the field of activities geared towards fundraising and marketing for or of the GCAS, an annual raffle or lottery can be held which caters to the needs of sports men and women in the region.  The concept embodies a system whereby athletes are asked to submit a proposal based on an established template identifying a need to study at the GCAS and their rationale.  This application is submitted with a minimal application fee of $50/$100 USD. The applications are processed in February of every year and 5 lucky persons from across the region are awarded full scholarships to the GCAS.  These scholarships will be funded through collaborative arrangements between the Olympic Committees, national lotteries authorities and other identified corporate and regional NGO’s such as OECS and CARICOM. Funds will be received from the contributions whilst the sponsored scholarships will generate the required tuition and academic fees.

The concept of sport camps which has been successfully utilized by the GCAS in the past can be continued and phased either annually or biannually across the UWI 14.  Camps will focus around those sports which are popular across the region whilst facilitating and incorporating those sports which exhibit development potential.  It should be noted that focus will also be placed on those sports which do not necessitate extensive infrastructure development and are conducive to the local Caribbean environment