Life
Hilary Beckles installed as new Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies
Barbadian academician, Sir Hilary Beckles has been installed as the new Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI). The installation ceremony was held on Saturday night at the Cave hill campus, in Bridgetown, Barbados.
Beckles becomes the institutions’ 8th Vice Chancellor.
Beckles told the audience, during his inaugural address, that in order to achieve the economic growth in the region, innovation and education must be regarded as the main ingredients to ensure future socio-economic success.
According to Beckles, all of the countries throughout the world that have managed to attain substantial growth have done it through industry and education, warning without good, applied research, there can be no innovation, and without innovation “we cannot compete internationally”.
He said this is the reason why the growth in the region and recovery from the global financial crisis has been “sluggish”.
He told the gathering that included Barbados Prime Minister Freundel Stuart that wealth creation would be an important criteria in driving the region out of the present recession, adding, recession is a threat to everyone.
He said that one of the ways that the Caribbean can obtain wealth creation is by “uprooting” the citizens out of poverty and there is “simply too much poverty”. However, before we can do this, we must ensure that every child has the opportunity to pursue higher education because it is through education that they can find their way forward.
Beckles reiterated his mission of seeing to it that one day, every household in Barbados, and the region, would have at least one graduate. He also made the call for knowledge households which are another element to achieving economic growth.
Sir Hilary Beckles appealed to UWI Chancellor, Sir George Alleyne, to have the university, with campuses in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago, recommit itself to educating Caribbean people to meet the region’s developmental needs.
“We are at the bottom of the hemisphere pile in terms of the number of our citizens between the ages of 18 and 30 who are enrolled in higher education.
