Dominican Employers’ Perceptions of Graduates of the UWI: The Ramifications for the University in an Entrepreneurial Era in Higher Education

ABSTRACT

In 1998, the Office of the Board for Undergraduate Studies (OBUS) commissioned a pilot study to ascertain Dominican employers’ perceptions of UWI graduates. That seminal investigation was the forerunner of a later, more extensive, survey of both UWI graduates and their employers in the Non-Campus Countries (NCCs). Utilizing structured open-ended interviews and Likert scales for employers, and closed and open-ended questionnaires for graduates, respondents were questioned on diverse aspects of their UWI on-campus education, including the breadth and depth of knowledge base, collaborative and teamwork skills, technical and communicative competence, the relevance of graduates’ training to the respective organisations and the community at large, critical limitations and weaknesses, among others. While employers and graduates appeared to be generally satisfied with the depth, more than the breadth, of the knowledge base, critical reservations were raised with regard to graduates’ suitability to the needs of the NCC markets. The anxieties of respondents, engendered by the regional University which had not yet managed to move beyond the frontiers of Cave Hill, Mona and St. Augustine, were apparent.

This paper reappraises the results of both the pilot study and the Dominica phase of the bigger NCC study with a view to examining the implications for entrepreneurial practice yielded by those results, and against the backdrop of the worldwide entrepreneurial trend in higher education (HE). It begins by tracing the international developments in entrepreneurism in HE, glancing at what universities are doing entrepreneurwise. Viewing the Dominica pilot and NCCs studies as a novel and refreshing venture by the UWI to find out the needs of its customers or target market, and an eschewal of its ivory tower caste, the author places this in the context of the UWI’s acceptance of not only the need to become entrepreneurial, but also to attend to the needs of its market (the ‘relevance issue’) in the NCCs. The paper draws on marketing theory and principles to show how the UWI can recapture any lost grounds in Dominica and the NCCs. It concludes with some practical recommendations with regard to the role of the UWI and its centres in the new paradigm.

Introduction

The year 1998 marked fifty years since teaching commenced at what then was the University College of the West Indies (UCWI), located at Mona, and just about thirty-six years after "the designated regional University" received the sanction, by Royal Charter, to confer degrees in its own right. Its name was to be recast into The University of the West Indies (UWI), with all the connotations this conveyed.

The Office of the Board for Undergraduate Studies (OBUS), one of the new creations of ‘Governance’ (July 1994),¹ commissioned two studies in 1998: The first was a pilot study in Dominica to ascertain employers’ perceptions of UWI graduates in terms of the latter’s handling of their jobs, on a number of counts. As with most exploratory studies, it also aimed at evaluating methodology and the feasibility of expanding the investigation to the other Non-Campus Countries (NCCs). Having agreed on its feasibility, the second and major one, the ‘NCCs Employers’ Perception of UWI Graduates’ survey, was undertaken in 10 NCCs;² in addition to seeking employers’ perceptions, it also sought to determine from the graduates themselves, their views of the extent to which the UWI education had prepared them for their respective jobs. To the present author’s knowledge, the two studies were unprecedented for the UWI and English-speaking Caribbean region and, ipso facto, one might well argue that the University, in practical terms, signalled during its 50th year that it was acknowledging calls, some muted, for relevance.

Why is all of this momentous? In general terms, concern with the relationship between higher education (HE) and work or the labour market is not a recent occurrence. In 1982, for instance, the Development Services Unit of the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA) commissioned a project which sought to determine the employment experiences of a sample of CNAA graduates in the United Kingdom (UK) (Brennan & McGeevor, 1988). Brennan and McGeevor (1988) contended, quite fittingly, that there are at least four discernible groups of people who would be concerned with the issue of employment of graduates, namely:

• Ministry of Education policy makers and officials whose role it is to plan the system of HE as a whole;³

• University senior administrators, lecturers, and generally personnel at all levels of HE institutions who have a vested interest in the future performance of their current students as well as their graduates now in employment;

• The rapidly expanding number of employers who are recruiting graduates in their businesses, institutions, etc.;

• Students themselves who are the ones making the complex choices, very often unaided; these choices are made before, during and after HE.

Brennan and McGeevor (1988) went on to consider the now perennial debate of the perceived role of HE in a country’s economic growth and performance. They drew upon the theme of the 1985 Green Paper in the UK which saw HE’s role as producing more graduates with the requisite economically productive skills (especially qualified scientists, engineers, technologists and technicians) and more of the right attitudes, like ‘entrepreneurial spirit’ and ‘positive attitudes to work’. They however quickly warned of the dangers of overworking this rigid correlation between HE and the labour market. Such a view was often adopted by those who sought to preserve the holistic integrity of HE, there being, the argument continued, intrinsic values and ethos to be derived from the very experience of HE.

Hence, HE ought to be valued for its own sake as well, since there was often the distinct possibility that even when engineers and technologists entered occupations for which they were trained, they made little use of that "formal science or engineering education" or there appeared to be a "dichotomy between the academic education they received and the skills and knowledge they required for their jobs" (Bosworth in Brennan & McGeevor, 1988, p. 2). More interestingly and germanely perhaps, is the point that the very production of graduates could bring about unforeseen and probably beneficial modifications in occupational roles, flag new possibilities and permutations, and raise awareness of hitherto overlooked needs (Teichler et al. in Brennan & McGeevor, 1988). It therefore seems prudent to argue that to tailor HE to existing or perceived job demands might be self-defeating in the sense that a ceiling is installed, at the very outset, on the gamut of HE and its courses. Writing much later, Marshall (2000) expressed concern about the ‘relevance problem’ in respect of the UWI, and its social sciences faculties in particular:

If not vigilant, the argument suggests, the UWI may well find that it dilutes its degrees with perceived societal relevance, vague in nature, and tending to negate the academic motif. What one expects, notwithstanding, is that once university graduates begin to occupy positions which were once filled by non-graduates, a distinct possibility in a region in flux, the character of those jobs will or should be altered (Brennan & McGeevor, 1988). This is probably what employers unwittingly intended by ‘flexibility’, ‘adaptability’ and ‘initiative’ on the job.

Another caveat is important here. Labour market needs are difficult to identify, and what HE institutions should do in order to achieve them is even less clear (ibid.). Brennan and McGeevor (1988) cited a study by Roizen and Jepson (1985) which painstakingly showed that the signals coming from employers were ambiguous and therefore typically difficult to unravel. Two of their conclusions were that employers:

• were not particularly interested in, or au fait with, the range of university courses and their differences

• felt there were shortages in what they considered ‘high quality’ graduates.

With the foregoing in mind, Brennan and McGeevor (1988) observed that, "the success of different courses in preparing students for working life is largely a matter of conjecture" (p. 5). Having said all of this, the present author believes that there was much to gain substantively, in terms of informing the UWI’s curricula, but also politically, in having conducted the studies in the NCCs. Fundamentally, they:

• provided empirical evidence, as opposed to instinctive feelings, of the extent to which the UWI was satisfying the needs of its major stakeholders, that is, employers and graduates

• bridged the gap between the UWI and employers as well as prospective employers in the NCCs

• served as an overture to societies which deemed the UWI to be aloof and hidden away in its ivory tower

• tempered to some extent the enduring complaint that the UWI was not particularly interested in the affairs of the NCCs

• served as indicators, if general, of how the UWI was doing in the NCCs

• in the case of the sometimes alienated graduates, hinted that the UWI was not altogether remote and dispassionate.

Against that backdrop, it is a short step to agreeing with Robotham (2000) that the many complaints usually emanating from the UWI’s customers were "trying to point us to some really serious issues that it is our duty to address" and "it would be the height of folly to disregard what ... [they] have been saying to us, sometimes not so politely..." (p. 239). There are some practical reasons also why they should not go unheeded.

Developments in Entrepreneurism

There were some specific politico-economic circumstances, albeit not peculiar to this region, which suggested that the UWI,⁴ in carrying out these studies, was responding to the ‘relevance call’ by governments/policy-makers and customers (including students, graduates, employers, parents, sponsors, supporters). It was also discharging the recommendations of ‘Governance’ and meeting the objectives and spirit of its ‘Strategic Plan, 1997-2002'. The following were particularly pertinent to developing and transitional countries, where HE institutions were most vulnerable:

• decreasing financial support from public coffers as a result of the dire economic crises governments faced, resulting from the globalisation of international markets for goods, services and capital; the disintegration of socialism and the Cold War, diverted attention - and finance - away from many developing countries (Clayton, 2000; Bernal, 2000a, 2000b)

• rapid technological innovation in communications and informatics (the ‘death of distance’ - Bernal, 2000b, quoting Frances Cairncross (1997)) which placed the least financially endowed institutions of HE at a distinct disadvantage

• reductions in scholarships/bursaries to would-be students or customers

• increased penetration and competition from extra-regional/international universities

• the sometimes cheaper cost in accessing overseas institutions of HE - the question of cost and affordability.

There was also a recognition that this region needs far more of its human resources educated at the tertiary level. Indeed, Miller (2000) has clearly shown how far behind the Commonwealth Caribbean is with regard to meeting its very own target of providing tertiary education opportunities to 20% of the 18- to 24-year age group by about 2007 (p. 126ff). Having to meet the ‘relevance problem’ and, simultaneously, the increasing demands to expand enrolment has inevitably led to what Robotham (2000) views as the dilemma of reconciling quantity and quality. As he pertinently asserted, "it is quantity of a high quality that counts and not quantity by itself" (p. 238).

Such constraints have led universities in both developing and developed regions to actively seek ways and means of reconciling academic integrity, and some may add purity, with economic pragmatism leading to the phenomenon, ‘entrepreneurial university’. This may be understood by considering Bannock and his colleague’s (1992) definition of the term entrepreneur, "an economic agent who perceives market opportunities and assembles the factors of production to exploit them...The essence of the entrepreneur, therefore, is that he is alert to gaps in the market which others do not see and is able to raise the finance and other resources ... to exploit the market that he initiates" (p. 135). Hence, the entrepreneurial university must adopt the marketing concept by attempting to be more effective than its competitors "in creating, delivering, and communicating customer value to its chosen target market " (Kotler, 2000, p. 19). This also implies that universities today cannot presume what is best for the prospective customer or consumer, as they or their architects arrogantly did in the past. In today’s HE climate, such decisions must reasonably be left to the free market.

The issue of human capital and its pivotal role in the knowledge economy (Hersh in Fairweather, 1988) has come to the fore. Universities must be seen by the societies in which they operate as actively assisting in resolving economic ailments. This is contrary to the concept of aloof and detached universities, "the concept of colleges and universities as ivory towers removed from external pressures" (Fairweather, 1988, p. 16). The ivory tower image, critics contend, is "nonproductive and, in reality, a myth" (ibid., p. 16). A closer look at some of the advantages of industry-university partnerships underscores the urgency of this phenomenon for the UWI and the region:

• heightened faculty and student understanding and acquaintance with "real world" problems and issues; associated with this is the attraction of universities which improve students’ chances of job experience during their studies, and enhanced employment prospects after graduation (Schutte, n.d.).

• increased access by faculty and students to state-of-the-art technology which universities may not control, due to their financial circumstances

• means of accessing industry personnel who may augment teaching faculty on part-time bases

• enhanced university revenue as a result of commercialization of faculty research breakthroughs (may result in improvement of decaying physical plants and facilities); spin-off companies are the instruments linking university research to final products (Schutte, n.d.)

• supposedly improved public image and funding for universities which are perceived to be relevant to their respective countries’ or regions’ economies (Fairweather, 1988)

• increased recruitment by universities which are viewed as more politically and socially eligible (Schutte, n.d.)

Against this background, the following, by no means complete, are broad entrepreneurial practices:

• engaging in contracted or sponsored research projects or training programmes

• providing consultancy expertise/services

• inter-university arrangements involving hybrid or co-operative programmes/agreements (also called "twinning programmes" or "articulation programmes") (Dos Santos, 2000, p. 6)

• establishing spin-off companies or industrial parks/incubators to supply their own products (testing and sales of the products by incubators within Science Parks)

• teaching and research support from industry taking the form of endowments for chairs and fellowships and royalties related to intellectual property

• designing, developing, delivering, and marketing of innovative credit and non-credit offerings; customers include, for example, members of the public and private sectors in need of gaining skills specifically tailored for their jobs

• using nontraditional time periods for innovative, creative, and financially rewarding programmes

• modernising and consolidating campuses/university estates in collaboration with private sector interests in order to attract world-class research groups with the lure of comparable first class teaching and research facilities

• patenting/licensing/franchising -- the HE institution (franchiser) grants another institution (franchisee) the right to provide the franchiser’s programmes/qualifications in the franchisee’s host country (Dos Santos, 2000, p. 6).

The Survey Results and Entrepreneurial Practice

With regard to Dominica and the NCCs on a whole, the term "entrepreneurship," as understood in the conventional sense might be a misnomer, since they are not industrial societies, properly speaking. Rather than consider entrepreneurship in the restricted sense of ‘industry-university partnership’, therefore, it is more convenient and pertinent to speak of ‘business-university partnership’, ‘corporate-university partnership’, or, ‘adaptive university’ (Davies in Schutte, n.d.). In certain instances, it is also possible to substitute the term ‘relationship’ for ‘partnership’ to connote a looser arrangement. Another caution is that, in the case of Dominica and the NCCs, entrepreneurism may have more to do with the long-term goal of developing human capital, as opposed to partnerships which result in product development and profit (Fairweather, 1988).

Revisiting the UWI’s past sheds some light on two historical perceptions which, arguably, the Dominica Pilot and NCC studies sought to redress:

1. The university intellectual community was isolated, by choice, in its ivory tower, first at Mona, and then at St. Augustine and Cave Hill, apparently indifferent to the concerns and dreams of the people of the region, particularly, no doubt, the NCCs.
2. The marked centralized nature of the UWI - the UWI in the ‘big’ islands - leading to pressures for decentralization: the result was the establishment of the St. Augustine and Cave Hill campuses; the matter did not end there, however, since the NCCs:

Thus, the number of resident tutors was increased from two to seven, university centres having been established in Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts, St. Lucia and St. Vincent (ibid., p. 19). Observing the four objectives of the UWI’s ‘Strategic Plan', it is also possible to find some motivation for the studies:

1. To enhance its role as a development reservoir for the region’s country and people by equipping more of the young people in disciplines important for realizing international competitiveness, giving particular emphasis to Science and Technology, Management and International Business; and by continuously updating the professional capability of the graduates in the work force by way of opportunities for postgraduate training and continuing education.
2. To fully participate in improving and expanding the capability of the region’s Tertiary Level Institutions (TLIs) so that, together and in partnership, UWI and the TLIs can more effectively meet the human resource needs of the region and better position its people to achieve much higher incomes and standards of living against the backdrop of ‘wide open’ economies which deregulation, the technological revolution, the knowledge economy, and the globalisation process have generated.
3. To be a student friendly university, providing high quality instruction and a pleasant climate for students in their pursuit of academic and other university activities.
4. To make the UWI more financially self-reliant by increasing its internal efficiency, positioning itself to secure additional income and actively competing for grant funds from national and international institutions and other private benefactors.

The foregoing might be summarized thus, "to more effectively meet the human resource needs of the region and better position its people to achieve much higher incomes and standards of living." To achieve this, therefore, it was necessary for the UWI to do some marketing research: It needed to assess its customer satisfaction, preferences, attitudes, goodwill, and even future buying behaviour (Kotler, 2000; Kotler & Armstrong, 200). It was not merely a fact-finding mission, having been undertaken against the backdrop of a specific problem: the ‘relevance problem’.

Dessler (2000) defined human capital as, "the knowledge, education, training, skills, and expertise of a firm’s workers" (p. 11). He asserted that human capital is more important now than it has ever been. He also noted that, "organizations today must grapple with revolutionary trends -- accelerating product and technological change, globalized competition, deregulation, demographic changes, and trends towards a service society and the information age. These trends have dramatically increased the degree of competition in virtually all industries ... Companies in such an environment either become competitive high-performers or they die " (p. 13). With regard to the knowledge society, Bernal (2000a) pointed out that by 2000, approximately 70 per cent of all jobs in Europe and the USA will demand cerebral deftness rather than manual skill. Half of such abstract-skill occupations, he maintained, required university-trained personnel or the equivalent professional qualifications. It seems, therefore, that the UWI has a full timetable as the designated regional university.

With this in mind, did the survey findings contain implications for the ‘relevance problem’ and for entrepreneurial practice? Whether expressed as strengths or weaknesses, it is possible to detect eight distinct issues or themes, from the comments of the Dominican graduates:

• opportunities for real-world working experience/training through job-placements or internships during the course of studies - the balance between theory and practice

• teamwork or collaborative endeavours in the execution of projects or problem-solving

• the extent to which Caribbean material/literature generally, and the NCC’s context in particular, were embodied in the UWI courses/lectures

• the modernity and scope of the library stock

• opportunities for formal learning of computer skills
• the impact of the semester system on learning

• the quality of interaction between students and lecturers

• the physical learning environment, specifically the classroom/laboratory sizes in relation to number of students.

Before assessing the graduate findings, two observations are necessary:

• the sample is small (n = 30) so that what is revealed is merely indicative; however, it must be noted that the Dominican results were more or less consistent with the NCCs results as a whole, particularly in terms of responses to the open-ended questions, which means that one may have confidence in the trends they yielded;

• graduates’ responses to the closed-ended questions revealed a more positive estimation of the UWI than their responses to the open-ended questions suggested; hence, there were sometimes contradictions between quantitative and qualitative results.

Some caution is therefore urged in reading the results although one should by no means treat indifferently the opinions expressed by graduates since it might be assumed that responding to open-ended questions is a more active and deliberate exercise compared to closed-ended questions where the problem of the ‘response set’ or ‘bias’ is possible.

In general, the majority of graduates believed that the academic content of their degrees was relevant to their intended career (97%), their current job (90%), and was up-to-date (76%). The majority also indicated that their learning experiences honed their research (78%), communication (66%), teamwork (79%), and leadership (54%) skills, and provided them with a Caribbean outlook (70%). Most were agreed also that classroom space (72%), library stock (63%), and interaction between students and lecturers (62%) were conducive to learning.

Notwithstanding, there were consequential minorities who were either not satisfied or could not determine the modernity/recency (24%) of the academic content of their courses, the research (22%), communication (35%), and leadership (46%) skills acquired in the pursuit of their degrees. In terms of inculcating a Caribbean perspective, 30% had reservations. With regard to aspects conducive to learning, it must be noted that 28% were dissatisfied with the classroom space, 37% with the library stock, and 38% with interaction with lecturers.

Perhaps most enlightening were the findings in terms of the opportunity to develop computer skills, the skill felt to be an indispensable part of human capital development in contemporary society. The majority (62%) judged that they did not acquire computer skills while pursuing their degrees. The remarks by graduates later will enhance readers’ understanding of the indications yielded by the quantitative results. It will also be noted that some of the anxieties expressed by the graduates coincided with those of their employers as well.

Bearing all those issues in mind, a look at some of the actual comments by the graduates is illuminating. Once again, whether positive or negative, they indicate what the graduates saw as important in their education and job experiences. Table 1 provides some examples of the comments by graduates on the academic content of their degrees.

From Table 1, it is clear that graduates hoped for:

• course content which was relevant to what they might encounter in the labour market

• formal opportunities/openings for attachments to industry/corporations pertinent to the degrees they undertook so that, at graduation, they would be able to claim practical experience as part of their degree training

• more up-to-date and higher demand computing programmes/languages, especially in computer science degree programmes where graduates would be expected to ‘hit the ground running’

• proficiency in the use and understanding of the computer as a foundation in all degree programmes

• an appreciation for regional and international contexts, especially in courses in management, international business, trade, politics, and so on

• broader coverage in their courses

• familiarity with state-of-the-art technology in scientifically- and technologically-based fields.

Table 2 presents some examples of the comments by graduates on the learning experiences which they encountered while pursuing their degrees. It is quite possible to argue that the learning experience⁵ and the circumstances surrounding that experience are as much a part of the degree as the actual content per se. Indeed, some may claim it might even be more important and its effects more enduring in terms of graduates’ preparation for life.

From their comments, graduates once again placed a premium on,

• the computer as a pedagogical tool, facility in its use being viewed as a boon for their future working lives

• pedagogy which emphasized analysis and critical thinking

• the ability to work competently in teams, but also, when necessary, the ability to work on individual tasks

• interaction with other Caribbean students, not only in an informal way, but in an organized and systematic fashion

• a pan-Caribbean perspective in teaching and examinations rather than a provincial campus country approach

• broad experiences which engendered well-rounded individuals.

In Table 3, some examples of the comments by graduates in respect of the factors they deemed conducive to learning are presented.

Evidently, there were four major themes emerging here, namely:

• greater accessibility to computers and computer laboratories

• up-to-date computer hardware and software

• a more student-friendly and caring institution

• larger and more up-to-date book and periodical stock.

Appendix A presents five tables with comments by Dominican employer respondents⁶ on the following aspects of the UWI graduates’ competencies:

• breadth and depth of knowledge base (Table A1)

• collaborative/teamwork skills (Table A2)

• technical competencies (Table A3)

• flexibility and adaptiveness (Table A4)

• leadership qualities (Table A5).

From the Dominican employers’ remarks, the main themes emerging, and which seemed important attributes for graduates to possess, were:

• analytical and problem-solving skills

• a business/entrepreneurial sense

• comprehension or grasp of matters relating to their areas of competence

• ability to take the initiative and assume responsibility

• ability to work in teams without feeling their sense of identity or independence threatened

• brief learning (experience) curve

• ability to adjust quickly when transferred to new departments, tasks etc., or in circumstances of job rotation

• conflict resolution skills.

Additionally, the 21 respondents in the pilot study pointed to some critical areas which they thought the UWI ought to give some attention to with regard to its graduates.

• Engagement in current pan-Caribbean and international issues and a regional, rather than provincial, outlook.

• Ample experience prior to graduates’ entry into the labour market which will enhance their ability to bridge the gap between theory and practice.

• Systematic interface with computers, computer systems and state-of-the-art technology generally, thus minimizing the marked computer shyness and ‘technophobia’ noted in graduates.

• The inculcation of a business or entrepreneurial sense as well as a professional ethos and positive work ethic; assertiveness and buoyancy were other necessary work characteristics which needed to be honed.

Employers and graduates also made definite recommendations, in addition to those which might be gleaned from their various comments. For instance, they suggested that the UWI needed to:

• systematically and formally work closely with regional governments in order to determine priority areas which would form the basis for curricula planning and development

• develop short courses, refresher courses and the like, as part of its CE and DE programmes, particularly tailored to the needs (time-tabling, convenience, content) of businesses and their professional staff (graduates and non-graduates alike)

• increasingly emphasize the distance mode and do everything possible to ensure efficient delivery, maintaining the academic integrity and standard of courses pursued by distance so that those participating in such courses did not feel they were receiving an inferior product

• undertake more political, economic and social research in the NCCs as a matter of policy

• in the absence of campuses, empower its centres (Schools of Continuing Studies) in the NCCs to take the lead in critically leading debate, resolutions etc. to critical issues in the political, social and economic lives of the people

• require its graduates, irrespective of their discipline, to do management and business courses which will better prepare them for the labour market since most, they argued, commenced their graduate working lives at the middle-management level; further, the courses in management and business should inculcate an entrepreneurial sense in graduates.

It is thus possible to recognize, in the observations, criticisms, reflections and recommendations by both graduates and their employers, several concerns which, perhaps unwittingly, correspond to the benefits which may be derived from business-university partnerships or relationships. Further, it is quite logical to argue that many of the above-mentioned submissions would be implausible unless the UWI and businesses in the NCCs, as well as the campus countries, were willing to bridge the ‘distance’ between academe and the business world.

One of the benefits of business-university partnerships, for instance, is that universities will become increasingly aware of "real world" problems. Employers and graduates alike have alluded to this in their comments. If internship or job attachment arrangements are institutionalised as part of the degree courses, then businesses will not only feel that their input and circumstances are valued, but they will soon recognize that they will be contributing towards the training of the well-rounded, adaptable, trained and trainable future employees they hanker for. The UWI itself will benefit from a good image which can result from the knowledge and perception by society of UWI graduates (its products) who are au fait with what is happening in the "real world." In science and technology-based disciplines, such as Engineering, Agronomy and Applied Chemistry, the likely impact of a successful breakthrough by UWI students in resolving a problem while on (say) summer attachment might well be imagined. The benefits will redound to students, business, the UWI, and lest we forget, the region.

But not only undergraduates and graduates need be involved in such arrangements. When employers spoke of the UWI becoming involved in research in the NCCs, they were also alluding to faculty becoming more accessible to business, even in advisory roles. This must of course be something which is systematic and institutional rather than random and individual. Additionally, the UWI could benefit, especially through its distance education, by deliberately using professionals/practitioners as local tutors. Employers were also asking for CE courses in areas specific to their particular areas of business, for instance, social security, credit union, and banking. In the absence of such local avenues, they argued, many dollars were being spent in sending employees to overseas institutions to access such courses.

In respect of CE, employers suggested that the UWI find ways of making this more accessible to employees without the latter having to leave their families, jobs and countries. This is important to an NCC like Dominica. The UWI will need to think of ways of getting businesses to see the benefits to be gained through investment in endeavours such as computer-based training (CBT), training via CD-ROM and the Internet, teletraining, and other technologically related learning modes. The UWI has shown through developments in its DE programmes that it is prepared to move further in that direction. CBT programmes can be very cost effective once designed and produced; they may reduce learning time by an average of 50%; there is instructional dependability (humans, unlike computers have good and bad days); increased retention and trainee motivation (Dessler, 2000).

But even in the shorter term, a project by the Canadian Honeywell manufacturing plant is a fitting model and has particular relevance to an NCC like Dominica. That plant formed a partnership with a local community college in Canada to deliver college-level courses to all factory employees, giving them an opportunity to earn college diplomas and certificates (ibid.). The UWI, for instance, may want to consider a franchise arrangement with the Clifton Dupigny Community College in that regard. Summarizing the rationale for business-university partnerships, Fairweather (1988) says that:

He adds that utilizing part-time faculty from industry can enhance instructional quality at universities. They could bring their ‘real world’ experience to bear on the theoretical aspects of the subject. Marshall’s (2000) concern about the heavy emphasis on mathematics in economics at the UWI, driven by an abiding preoccupation with "science as empiricism and formulae", rather than training economics undergraduates in the substantive logic and ‘art’ of economics, must be noted. Practitioners as tutors can promote the latter with their intuitive real world experiences and may even be able to contribute to curricula change.

Businesses can also, for instance, endow chairs and thereby increase the UWI’s chances of attracting outstanding and experienced professionals to its faculty. This happens in the campus countries but, arguably, the UWI will need to be more visible in the NCCs before businesses will wholeheartedly adopt such an approach. All of this would contribute to addressing the ‘relevance problem’. Specifically, such qualities as analytical/problem-solving skills, business/entrepreneurial ethos, ability to take the initiative and assume responsibility, and acquiring vocational experience, will all be derived from a closer union between the UWI and businesses in the NCCs. From their comments, it appears that the employers would like to see the UWI become the natural destination for continuously upgrading the technical and professional skills of its present employees and training future ones.

There appears to be an abiding concern with the ‘techno-savvy’ of the UWI graduates. Evidently, this concern cannot be ignored. Here again is a call for relevance. Employers and graduates are expressing the need for computer skills to be treated as a fundamental aspect of the training of every graduate. In particular, students in areas such as Accounting, Economics (and Econometrics), Statistics and Demography, should be conversant with the specialised computer software in these areas. All in all, one hears the call by employers for employees who will give their organisations the competitive edge. Beyond computers per se is the aspect of information technology (IT), an area which many Caribbean countries are viewing as a possible beneficial sphere of economic activity (Reichgelt, 2000). Employers thus appear to be looking to the UWI for training potential employees in this universally lucrative area.

In the short run, all of the above will not bring a financial windfall for the UWI, or indeed for business. Indeed, it is quite easy to become skeptical about the entire endeavour. Governments in the NCCs may claim that there are no additional funds available to accommodate new ideas; the private sector may claim that they do not have sufficiently large numbers of employees to warrant large financial investments, and they may wish to see at the outset some evidence of the benefits to be derived from partnership with the UWI. Why the UWI, they may ask. Put otherwise, there is a cultural barrier to traverse. In spite of the very useful and enthusiastic suggestions of employers, Nettleford’s (2000) distress regarding the entrepreneurial spirit of private sectors in developing countries is worth repeating here:

With a very small industrial base in the Caribbean in general and the NCCs and Dominica in particular, the UWI finds itself with very limited options. The fact is that many of its graduates are employed in the public and quasi-public sectors - these will therefore continue to be its main customers for the foreseeable future - and ipso facto, entrepreneurism will be of a different nature compared to what obtains in developed countries. As emphasised above, the objective is, in the long run, to add value to human capital in Dominica and the NCCs. The UWI will have to sell all of this to its target market in Dominica and the NCCs. How can it approach this task?

Conclusion: Marketing Implications for the UWI

In carrying out the surveys in the NCCs, the UWI adopted the marketing concept⁷ which maintains that the achievement of organisational goals depends upon ascertaining the needs and wants of target markets and delivering what customers want, more effectively and efficiently than competitors (Kotler, 2000; Kotler & Armstrong, 2001; Kotler, Bowen & Makens, 1999). Indeed, given the region’s financial constraints, the competition between essential social services for funding, and rising demand for HE, the UWI ought to go a step further and adopt the ‘societal marketing concept’ which, in addition to the philosophy of the marketing concept, maintains that the customer’s and society’s well-being must not be compromised (ibid.).

In order to actualize the societal marketing concept, the UWI must bridge the gap between quality and quantity referred to earlier, and, importantly, respond to the signals of its graduates and their employers in designing its product. The issues which the Strategic Plan’s four objectives (see Strategic Plan, 1997-2002, p.1ff) address appear to correspond to the ‘marketing mix’, the mechanisms - product, price, promotion, and place (the four Ps) - a firm employs in order to accomplish its marketing objectives in its target market (Kotler, 2000; Kotler & Armstrong, 2001). Gingrich (1996) has fittingly applied the four Ps to HE institutions. In Appendix B the present author has tabulated a comparison between the four objectives of the Strategic Plan, the four Ps, and Gingrich’s questions regarding the four Ps (Severin, 2000). It is obvious from the table that, in order to accomplish the objectives of its ‘Strategic Plan’ and consequently meet the needs of its customers in Dominica and the NCCs, the UWI should be conscious of the fact that, in customers’ minds, the products’ quality and price are not treated separately; additionally, they place much emphasis these days on logistics such as delivery mode, scheduling, locations (place factors). Importantly, the UWI must inform its target customers in attractive ways, about its offerings in the face of rising competition.

Such competition (see Appendix C for foreign tertiary level providers in the Caribbean) also has marketing implications for another aspect of the UWI, namely its image. Much of what the Dominican employers and graduates expressed went beyond actual experience. It reflected their beliefs, ideas and impressions of the UWI. These are inextricably bound to employers’ experience of the performance of their graduate employees and, from the point of view of the latter, their UWI learning experience. It also derives from a general impression of the impact or presence of the UWI in the NCCs. Put otherwise, the UWI’s brand image is dependent upon the experiences of employers, graduates and the society at large of its product attributes "as filtered by the effects of selective perception, selective distortion, and selective retention" (Kotler, 2000, p. 180).

To the potential buyer, the UWI Coat of Arms is basically its "promise to deliver a specific set of features, benefits, and services consistently to the buyers" (Kotler, 2000, p. 404). Brands can convey up to six levels of meaning - attitudes, benefits, values, culture, personality, user (ibid.). Ideally, a brand must be promoted on several levels. Its values, culture and personality will outlast its attributes, benefits and (very possibly) its users. The present author has attempted in Table 4 to customize the six levels of meaning inherent in brands to the UWI’s circumstances by posing questions which are useful for analysing how the UWI is proceeding. In the first column, Kotler’s (2000) illustration of the Mercedes is retained so that readers may make their own comparisons (Severin, 2000).

Table 4. Six Levels of Meaning inherent in Brands and the Implications for the UWI

The issues contained in Table 4 have ramifications for the UWI in Dominica and the NCCs:

• graduates with first degrees from the UWI may not be inclined to pursue postgraduate degrees if they were disappointed with their first experience, academically and otherwise;

• potential customers may or may not be disposed to attend the UWI depending on their perceptions of the quality of education there, which they invariably would receive from graduates and competitor propaganda;

• employers’ decisions to hire graduates of the UWI or to partner with it in terms of sandwich or industrial courses might be closely related to their perceptions of the quality of its training and degrees;

• industry’s/business’s motivation to partner with the University is closely linked to the former’s perceptions of the relevance, applicability, quality, and tradition of the latter’s research (Severin, 2000).

With the foregoing in mind, this paper recommends that the UWI: