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The University of the West Indies is on a hinge of history: while connected to its past, it is swinging in other directions. This address, while acknowledging the achievements of the university in the campus countries, attempts to challenge the institution to set the course in what should be significant new developments in the Non-Campus Countries. As the title implies, the University must prepare itself to play a leading role.
As a mature social and intellectual institution the University finds itself in a defining position with few, if any, precedents to fall back on, and with little but platitudes to mask the nakedness of the change which must be brought about. While it is gratifying to reflect upon platitudes and nostalgic glances backward, the University must now summon the fortitude to take a vigorous look at the reality of the world in which it operates.
Like a giant octopus, the University must spread its practical influence, its learning and its undertakings from Mona, Cave Hill and St. Augustine to Kingstown, Roseau, St. Johns and George Town, Grand Cayman in dynamic and effective ways. It must reach these locations through The Chancellor's Forum, Country Conferences and its Distance Learning project to name a few. The University must be the torchbearer in conducting research, sharing results, honing scholars and preparing societies often by non-traditional means. It must be what Napoleon, that father of military ambition, remarked that the conscript army was for France, "the vitality of the nations".
Yes! The University must be the vitality of the non-Campus Countries as much as it is the vitality of the Campus countries. In crafting such a role for itself, it must balance its obligations to the campus countries with its role and responsibility to bring enlightenment, hope and opportunity to the non-campus countries as well. This observation comes with the full realization of the challenges which confront the institution as it grapples with competition, financial constraints, improvements to the physical plant and the ever important factor of drawing excellent faculty and offering relevant programmes.
As if these challenges were not sufficient, the University must also prepare itself for the demands of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas and the World Trade Organization's stated objectives of the liberalization of education and other services. Haunting such an uninviting reality is the notion that the non-campus countries is no less critically in need of the university's services than is the campus countries, as these are part of the Caribbean community and share the diaspora.
If we are to speak meaningfully of the Caribbean Community Single Market and Economy (CSME) then the people of the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands must be no less informed, no less prepared and no less productive than those of Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad. If the Caribbean Community is to succeed in a world where globalization is the new imperialism, then the people of Dominica must have the same learning opportunities and the same development philosophy as those in Jamaica, for example. To compound this situation, there is the ever-present reality that it is "money which makes the world go round" and we know that in many of the Caribbean countries, money is among the scarcest of commodities.
The University is no stranger to financial constraints as is evidenced in the history of the institution written in painstaking detail by those two quintessential advocates of the institution, Philip Sherlock and Rex Nettleford. Financial stringency did not deter the early university from its mission of bringing enlightenment, hope, relief and challenge to the people of the Caribbean diaspora. So too today, a way must be found to rise the challenge of realizing the objective of being no less productive in the non-campus countries.
It is a profoundly appropriate expectation that in the remaining British overseas Dependent Territories as well as the independent non-campus countries, that the University, must in the words of the Irvine Committee, be:
a place at which men and women will be trained who will prove themselves capable of taking responsibility, not only in connection with their own chosen professions but also in connection with the whole political and economic development of the West Indies.
The University of the West Indies, in reaching out to serve the various communities must become a "Multiversity". The idea of 'multiversity" is one very much suited to an institution already serving Caribbean communities drawing on the same or, similar strands of history. It is envisaged that the countries of Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica will serve as the core, while the non-campus countries would benefit from attachments to the core entities.
The "multiversity" is at once an institution consistent with the challenges of a Caribbean community largely preoccupied with regional integration, globalization and in a smattering of the smaller islands, a dying colonialism.
By my own definition, it is not one community but several - the community of the politically independent countries, the community of dependent territories, the community of the humanist, the community of the social scientist, the community of the professional schools; the community of cultural studies and the performing arts; the community of non-academic personnel; the community of administrators and one could go on.
Its edges are flexible, it reaches out to alumni, legislators, farmers, businessmen and the proverbial "man in the street", who are all related to one or more of the myriad communities in its geographical make-up. As an institution offering enlightenment, direction and bearing, it looks far into the past and its radarscope offers a crystal clear view of the future, to the extent that it is often at odds with the present.
The "multiversity" must serve society just as slavishly - a society it criticizes unmercifully when such behaviour is necessary. Devoted to equality of opportunity, to respect for its students, to eminence for its faculty, it must be a beacon in the community. It should have a soul, a single animating principle which should serve to inspire, to uplift, to motivate, to mobilize and to offer hope and enlightenment for the future.
Upon reflection, let me now visit a most important dimension in which the "multiversity" must be expected to cast itself into a leading role - that is in the area of politics and political leadership. It is a role which is of critical importance if Caribbean jurisdictions are to remain free of those who would use public office to promote "cults of personality" and hegemonic cultures. The "multiversity" which is spoken of here, has a responsibility to prepare generations of leaders steeped in democratic principles, practitioners of transparency, public engagement and accountability. In so doing, it must also promote altruism, brotherhood and respect among the rank and file so that the Caribbean or at least that section served by the University of the West Indies, does not become a community of Philistines whose only objective is to amass personal wealth.
The university or "multiversity" (as I have challenged it to become), must continue to be an icon of intellectual, historical and cultural importance synonymous with the common good.
As architect and moulder, the institution must not make the mistake (easy to be made, though it is), of responding to the immediacy of the challenges it faces by sacrificing the long-term objectives and ambitions to the short-term glamour of a false success.
As Minister of Education in the Cayman Islands, I welcome the University reaching out to the non-campus countries in the way of "country conferences". I deem it an important part of the university's mandate to foster educational development and to promote opportunities for intellectual discourse and enlightenment. It is my fervent hope that occasions such as these will serve to remind us in the Cayman Islands that the time has come to put aside individual or jurisdictional indulgencies and to work for the community as a whole.
Time and its ancillary phenomenon suggests there will indeed be occasion for the University of the West Indies to transform itself into a "multiversity". Whether this process achieves a dimension of formality, is up to this time, a not so important moot point. The university has, by staging these country conferences, publicly acknowledged its commitment to the challenges faced by the non-campus countries. All that is necessary at this point is to hope that such conferences be a regular feature of the university's presence in the non-campus countries. However, the extent of the University's involvement in the non-campus countries must not be limited to country conferences. There must also be research in all its facets from agricultural to medical health. There should also be collaboration with other educational institutions, ample provision for preparing academic and administrative staff.
Importantly too, the institution must play its part in the income generating activities which will ensure that its existence carries economic spin offs. Most importantly however, the institution must continue to be a beacon in the Caribbean which has come to expect that the University of the West Indies meets the needs of all its client jurisdictions.
In conclusion, let me say that this is an excellent opportunity for those of an intellectual bent to test their renderings among colleagues, friends and a listening audience. It is my wish that the efforts are accorded the appreciation, respect and deliberations they deserve. All that is left for me to do at this point is to declare this conference "open" and to once again record my pleasure at having been bestowed the great honour of delivering what I hope was a challenging address.
© The Hon. Roy Bodden, 2004.
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