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Barbados: Effective 2014, Students to pay for their tuition at the University of West Indies
The Barbados government says it will no longer pay tuition fees for nationals studying at the University of the West Indies (UWI).
This was revealed by the island-nation’s Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Chris Sinckler, in his 2013-14 budget presentation on Tuesday.
Effective 2014 Barbadian students pursuing studies at the university’s three campuses will be required to pay their own tuition fees, while Barbados continues to fund economic costs.
According to Sinckler, tuition fees range from US$2,812.50 to USS$32,500 and that the new policy would reduce the transfer to the University of the West Indies by an estimated US$21 million a year.
“The government of Barbados recognizes that access to education at all levels has been a key factor in the success of Barbados as a society and an economy,” Sinckler said, adding that the Stuart administration “remains committed to, and fully supportive of, the continued growth and development of the University of the West Indies – Cave Hill campus and increased access to tertiary education for Barbadians”.
In 2003/04 the Cave Hill Campus began a major expansion in terms of the numbers of students and the amenities offered. In 1999,, there were around 3,568 undergraduate students at Cave Hill and by 2007 this number had increased to around 6,718 and currently stands at around 7,200 students.
The expansion has meant major increases in the government of Barbados’ contribution to the University of the West Indies.
In 2007, the financial contribution of the Barbados government to the university was US$39.65 million, a figure that increased to US$60.25 million a year later.
Sinckler further revealed that since 2006 the total contribution by Barbados to the university has exceeded the combined contribution to all of the island-nation’s elementary, high schools as well as the Barbados Community College and the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic.
“As a consequence, the government has decided that in an effort to assist it in meeting the exploding costs of university education it has now become necessary to ask students attending and desirous of attending the University of the West Indies to contribute to their education in a more direct manner,” Sinckler told legislators and the nation. -(CMC)