Carroll Edwards, Contributor
Proud UWI graduates at the ceremony last year. WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
(In a letter to the Editor)
I REFER to recent discussion in your newspaper regarding the issue of accreditation in relation to The University of the West Indies (UWI). Some persons have questioned why the UWI does not participate in the University Council of Jamaica's accreditation process and have suggested that the lack of participation means that the UWI is not open to "peer review and accreditation by an independent authority" and therefore not able to withstand objective scrutiny.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The University of the West Indies takes great pride in its over 50,000 graduates who are dispersed throughout the Caribbean and further afield. Many are in key leadership positions, serving with distinction in every single area in which the UWI offers training. Contrary to what has been stated, graduates of this institution consistently perform at the highest level and have absolutely no difficulty in getting accepted into graduate programmes at reputable institutions overseas. The numbers who have secured prestigious scholarships further testify to the strength of their qualifications and their competitiveness in the international academic arena.
INCREASINGLY RELEVANT
Having said that, the UWI is acutely aware that accreditation has become increasingly relevant in an environment in which the liberalisation of higher education will become effective under the terms of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). Given the current
competitive structure of the regional market for tertiary education, this development means that more than ever before, institutions of higher education will have to become more accountable to their various stakeholders. For many institutions, particularly those in the United States of America, accreditation has been the route by which they assure stakeholders of their intrinsic value. Universities in Canada, however, do not use accreditation as a means of validation of quality.
For its part, The University of the West Indies, since its inception, has adopted the route of internal quality assurance measures for its programmes, including those which are not subject to professional accreditation. Currently, all academic departments at the UWI are
subject to a periodic and formal process of quality reviews and quality assurance, which are implemented through the Office of the Board for Undergraduate Studies (OBUS).
SELF-ASSESSMENT REPORT
These reviews include a self-assessment report which is considered by a review team which typically comprises a representative from the same discipline on another UWI campus, together with at least one senior
academic from an extra-regional university, and a professional with expertise in the area, usually from the Caribbean but external to the UWI. The review team visits the campus to test the validity of the self-assessment report and meets with academic staff, students,
programme graduates, relevant employers and management personnel. The team then
provides feedback to the academic staff, which identifies issues for further consideration and/or action and reports the results to the
faculty and campus academic boards.
The OBUS review is supported by course and programme approval and the use and approval of first and second examiners, including university examiners, for most university examinations. There are also external examiners for all postgraduate courses and some undergraduate courses as well. The external examining system relies heavily on external academics invited from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and, in a few cases, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. In other words, although the UWI is not accredited by an external body, there are checks and balances in place to ensure that standards are maintained. Indeed, the comments of the external examiners over the years suggest that the courses offered by the UWI are at an appropriate international standard and comparable to similar courses offered in their respective universities.
The measures outlined above are similar to programme reviews which are conducted in the United States of America as part of that country's accreditation process. It is an approach which has been adopted by countries outside of the USA who do not seek to be accredited by an American body, as there is some concern that American accreditation is designed for the realities of the American higher education system and not geared to the realities of countries whose intellectual traditions and tertiary education environment differ substantially from those found in the United States.
I further wish to point out that the UWI has also had a long experience with the accreditation of certain of its professional programmes. The Faculties of Medical Sciences and Engineering have been strongly influenced by the need to retain the accreditation of the regulatory professional bodies which from time to time carry out intensive quality reviews to ensure that the programmes being offered meet international standards.
In the past, accreditation of the Medical Sciences degree programme was carried out by the United Kingdom General Medical Council. Two years ago, when it was announced that the Council would cease to perform the function of an accreditation body for medical schools in the Commonwealth countries, the UWI successfully lobbied for the establishment of a regional accreditation body for the medical and other health sciences. That body is the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and other Health Professions which was established and launched in 2004. The UWI is currently preparing for accreditation visits by that body.
In the case of Engineering, there was initial oversight for programmes through the relevant British professional engineering institutions. In the early 1980s, however, these institutions moved to a more formal and rigorous accreditation process. The Faculty, recognising the need for its programmes to be accredited, met the challenge. The Chemical Engineering programme was accredited first in 1982 by the Institution of Chemical Engineers, this being followed by the Civil Engineering programme being accredited by the Joint board of Moderators in 1987. The degree programme in Electrical and Computer Engineering was accredited by the Institution of Electrical Engineers in 1990 and those of Mechanical, Industrial and Agricultural Engineering in 1994 by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. In addition, the Faculty has operated an undergraduate programme in Surveying and Land Information (formerly Land Surveying) and this programme has been accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors since 1990.
The UWI recognises that continued international accreditation of its professional programmes is an imperative, not an option. The OBUS administered quality assurance process described at paragraph four above, is testament to the fact that UWI further recognises the need for its non-professional programmes to withstand the closest scrutiny.
Other universities, particularly those based outside of the USA, have found that a system of international accreditation built around internal quality assurance mechanisms has proven to be an effective tool in enhancing their various programmes. In this regard, several Ministers of Education in the region are expressing support for the establishment of the Caribbean Community Accreditation Agency which projects the development and application of regionally prescribed or recognised standards for the provision of tertiary education. The UWI, as a regional institution, will cooperate fully in that process.
In addition, in light of the situation in Jamaica, whose government is a signatory to the GATS Agreement liberalising tertiary and higher education in Jamaica, the UWI, Mona Campus took the decision in September 2005, to seek registration with the University Council of Jamaica.
In closing, may I say that the challenge which faces the region, and not just the UWI, is how best to validate in an internationally acceptable way the excellence demonstrated in elements of higher education, certainly within the UWI and other institutions in the Caribbean region.
Carroll Edwards is Public Relations Officer for the University of the West Indies
