Livingston Thompson, Guest columnist AT THE beginning of another academic year it may serve us well to consider the recent data in the 2001 official statistics of the University of the West Indies.
A number of very interesting features can be discerned that have a bearing on the educational policy, philosophy and programmes of the participating countries.
The first relates to the overall numbers of students registered. The overall population of the university has moved from a mere 33 persons (23 males and 10 females) in 1948/49 to well over 19,000 today. The growth of the population in Trinidad has been the most significant. While there were 910 students at Mona in 1960/1 there were only 67 students at St. Augustine. However, by 1980/81 the population at Mona was 4,579 while St. Augustine's had grown to 2,913.
Today, the largest campus is Mona, which in 2000/01 had 8,758 students, followed by St. Augustine in Trinidad with 6,967 and Cave Hill in Barbados with 3,740. In each case, the host country provides the bulk of the student population. This means that Barbados, with a population of about 270,000 has a university registration of about 14 students for every 1,000 residents, Trinidad and Tobago with 1.3 million people has nearly five per 1,000. When we factor in the other two universities in Jamaica, (UTech 6,733 and NCU 4,500) with a population of 2.5 million, Jamaica has about eight persons registered in university per 1000 residents.
INTERESTING FEATURE
Another interesting feature is the shift in numbers of female students being registered. Up to 1981/82 there were more males than females but female students registration was always increasing at a faster rate. The turning point was 1982/83 when for the first time the overall number of females surpassed the number of males. From a total of 4,869 female students among the three campuses in 1982/83, the female population moved in 2000/01 to 12,660. During that same period the male population moved from 4,704 to 6,805. In other words, 65 per cent of the university's population at 2000/01 was female and 35 per cent male. Where the female population has grown by 160 per cent in the last 20 years, the male population has grown by about 45 per cent. The increasing female registration of full-time students can be seen on all three campuses. At the end of 2000/01 females accounted for 69 per cent of the student population at Mona, 67 per cent at Cave Hill and 57 per cent at St. Augustine.
For students in the part-time programmes the percentages for females are higher for all three campuses. For full-time students at the undergraduate level, Mona showed 70 per cent female, 68 per cent at Cave Hill and 56 per cent at St. Augustine. At the level of higher degrees females account for 62 per cent at Mona, 61 per cent at Cave Hill and 59 per cent at St. Augustine.
A third feature of the Official Statistics is that for the first time in the history of the university, the year 2000/01 showed an overall decrease in registration over the previous year. The registration at St. Augustine has always showed an increase on the previous years, which means that Cave Hill and Mona account for that decrease. St. Augustine, in fact, had an overall increase of 107. Cave Hill showed a decrease in registration in 1966/67 and 1992/93. Mona showed decreases on the previous years in 1985/86, 1986/87 and 1999/2000. The most recent decreases in registration at Mona may be due to the other options for pursuing degrees that are currently available in Jamaica. It will be interesting to see whether this trend will continue.
A fourth feature of interest is the part-time registration. At Mona only in faculties of law and the medical sciences are there no part-time students at the undergraduate, diploma or certificate levels. Naturally, there are particularities relating to the nature of these programmes that may account for this. However, one wonders whether this is also evidence of the elitism of a former dispensation that we continue to see in these faculties. At the same time, 43 per cent of the students registered in the social sciences faculty in 2000/01 and 33 per cent in arts and education were part-time students. When all the faculties are considered, 36 per cent of student registration in 2000/01 were part-time. The growing number of part-time persons may also be a factor that has facilitated the increased registration of women.
A fifth feature relates to the higher degrees awarded by the university. There is clearly a trend towards the social sciences where 61 per cent of the all degrees granted by Mona in 2000/01 was in this area. (Naturally 84 per cent of those receiving degrees were Jamaicans.) In the case of Cave Hill the figure was 50 per cent and 35 per cent in the case of St. Augustine. There is need to understand properly the meaning of this trend because they have a bearing on development.
From the above assessment, it is clear that Jamaica must take stock of the levels of registration in general and registration of males in particular. However, the area that concerns this writer most critically is the granting of higher degrees, which indicates where advanced research is taking place and where we are building our capacities to break new ground for industry.
SOCIAL SCIENCES
One wonders about the extent to which research in the social sciences will eventually have an impact on the growth and development of our economy and the extent to which such research is enabling us to add value to our products. The predisposition of persons to opt for advanced research in the social sciences seems to be a consequence of traditional attitudes in education, rather than any careful assessment of what the long term developmental needs of the society may be.
For Jamaica, this issue is important because 63 per cent of all degrees granted to Jamaicans at the higher level in 2001 were in the social sciences. This trend is quite understandable given the deep social problems we are experiencing in terms of crime and social dislocation. However, with a long tradition of involvement in mining and agriculture, where there is a greater capacity for developing value-added products, it is a pity that Mona is not making the engineering and agricultural sciences more available to Jamaicans.
There is increasing difficulty for Jamaican students to go to Trinidad & Tobago or Barbados where we have faculties in engineering and agriculture. The University of the West Indies at Mona must address its programme offering to the long-term developmental needs of the Jamaican society. The administration at Mona must therefore think again about the long-term developmental meaning and implications of this predisposition to the social sciences at the level of higher degrees.
Livingstone Thompson is president of the Executive Board of the Moravian Church in Jamaica.
