TT: The idea of a new university

Some concerns have been expressed about the role of the St Augustine Campus in meeting the needs of the economy, the relevance of some of the degree offerings and research. These concerns in our view are not well founded for the simple reason that the St Augustine Campus is probably at or near its capacity to cater for the larger numbers of science and technology graduates needed. Today many of our young with excellent A-Level qualification simply cannot be accommodated.

We also do not accept the argument that some degrees and some areas of research are irrelevant. To achieve the full potential of our human resources, tertiary offerings must be as wide as possible and research must be broadly based over the range from pure intellectual curiosity to that directed towards solution of problems faced by the country. This, the UWI, St Augustine, already does and has provided yeoman service over the past four decades so that we do not really envisage any unacceptable duplication of effort. What we do see of the University of Trinidad and Tobago is a national university dedicated to core university disciplines, with emphasis on science and technology, with its research orientation directed by national priorities.

Interesting piece. Read the rest.