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UWI Cave Hill Takes a Hit

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Submitted by Anthony Davis
Enrollment at UWI, Cave Hill affected by government's policy to exact tuition cost from students.
Enrollment at UWI, Cave Hill affected by government’s policy to exact tuition cost from students.

“Not a single one!

That was the reaction of a senior official at the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies in response to SUNDAY SUN questions whether any students had turned up with proof of having received one of the thousands of bursaries promised by Government eight weeks ago.

On July 12, while speaking at an official ground-breaking ceremony at the campus, Minister of Education, Ronald Jones, disclosed: “Young people have been saying you need to do more to help us over the threshold now that we’ve made the adjustment in tuition fees and we are committed to that. In the first few years, we will do some 3000 bursaries to help those with challenges and this has already been agreed to.

“We can say with the greatest of accuracy that not one person who has registered has brought any document or payment showing they have received a bursary from the Ministry of Education, and as far as I am aware the university has received no correspondence from the ministry indicating that any bursaries have been awarded,” the official said on condition that he not be identified.

“On August 29 Minister Jones revealed that 1695 people had applied for bursaries to cover tuition fees and officials of his ministry were processing them, after which he would take the matter to Cabinet for “sign off”. Well placed sources in the ministry told the SUNDAY SUN they were unaware of any paper being taken to Cabinet on Thursday, the last time  Cabinet sat. Repeated attempts to reach Jones for a comment were unsuccessful.”

Well, well, well!

 

The Government of promises and plans have struck at the heart of the poor, the needy, and the vulnerable once again. This Government which always seems to have such lofty plans and make such promises which they cannot put into action is only demolishing everything that others have put in place to help those mentioned. Now they cannot even keep their promise to help them with bursaries!

Mr. Blackett said that it is a “people-centred government” and I still want to know what he means by that!. Which people do you mean, Mr. Blackett? The Butch Stewarts of this world and their ilk? You certainly do NOT mean the lower echelons of our society, because you and the rest of this government have done nothing but pull rug after rug from under their feet.

RPB needs to change the words to his song “Cahn find me brother” to “Cahn find me Minister”. Ministers in this government seem to go AWOL quite often. Only recently the Minister of Agriculture couldn’t be found either. I wonder with whom this one is hanging out.

Is the minister sure that he didn’t place his paper work in his cabinet at home? Maybe this all came about because he said he wanted to do the bursaries. You don’t “do” bursaries. You award them or give them. That’s probably why he doesn’t know what he has done with them.

You have millions of dollars to pump into a hotel which is always about to start building again, but “No Seasons” seems to be too far gone, or nearly $250,000 to spend on a trip, but cannot find the money for the bursaries for the scions of the poor, the needy and the vulnerable. This means that only the progeny of the upper echelons of our society will be able to study certain subjects because of the high tuition fees.

Is this being “people-centred?

I think not!

On the other hand: Enemies’ promises are made to be broken!

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302 responses to “UWI Cave Hill Takes a Hit”

  1. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @’Enuff
    LOL
    Your warnings are bovine excretement
    Look around Barbados…..where is the UWI legacy in leadership?
    Where is it in science?
    Where is it in business? In enfranchisement?

    Our business leaders mostly have funny names…
    There are from countries where education is not free….
    Half the police force are lawyers….and little school dropouts and ZR men running things bout here…
    Practically ALL teachers are graduates…..Ha Ha Ha

    UWI’s is know for producing our lawyers (like Ross and the other jokers) – sitting on a non-functional system and stealing PLantation Deeds….
    It is known to have produced our politicians….. Mercy….
    Our Public servants are products…. LOL
    Man look!!! AC is a graduate den!!!!! Wuh dat tell you….?!?

    Looka….you better don’t provoke Bushie to rev up the old whacker yuh..

  2. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    You are way too cynical, way too pessimistic.

  3. PLANTATION DEEDS FROM 1926TO 2014 MASSIVE FRAUD LANDTAX BILLS AND NO DEEDS, BARBADOS DLP/BLP MASSIVE PONZI FRAUD Avatar
    PLANTATION DEEDS FROM 1926TO 2014 MASSIVE FRAUD LANDTAX BILLS AND NO DEEDS, BARBADOS DLP/BLP MASSIVE PONZI FRAUD

    PDC as We see it hell or to cold with Canada , like we need that place for one shite, Niggers always talking for white people so they dont have to say a word as we talk much wrong and bull, In Canada do as they do by their
    own laws now seem to be action more like American dealing with class and race,, The poor slaves ran there for it was more free than the south and Moors held title in France and also help defeat England who also were slave holders, Canada is a much different place than 50 or 100 years, Bajans only have that place to run to when things looking bad and the people there come in out Sun and watch the fools run North to the cold,

    we never heard of a Bajan died for lack of heat , or frozen to death ,Never hear a Bajan starve to death , or cant find clean water to drink

    Run to Canada to get what an Apple Iphone 6? lap top? winter coat?
    The mind set of some of you is more brainwashed than ever,

    Bajans need to go no where to look for work nor a home , As other come and take behind our back with the help of the pimp title holders,

    Better think or re think or just try thinking on The good Life God gave the Caribbean that the World can see as other look to trick us out of small rock

    Let COW and family and friends take there Ass up there with their tricks an see how long they will last, Goddard , Scumbag lawyer and other holders of the Massive PIMP being done to Bajan,

    Off to the Embassy for a Visa with no schooling in another country will lead you to walking old people, washing ass, cleaning houses, walking dogs , working at fast food and coming back to Bim over weight and high blood pressure awaiting to died full of drugs and police record for walking while black , driving while back , being not white
    Better read the news Live From North American , remember all black look alike to red neck , kkk supporters in police uniforms, covering up for each other, Get the Picture,

    Just remove theses Crooks , Liars and Scumbags from office and see you self clear of this Massive Fraud in Barbados ,

  4. Life Changer + Avatar
    Life Changer +

    @ Plantaion.
    I don’ I know if you have noticed – yesterday,s FCIB blog is completely missing???
    Some of these “DLP dealers” must have offshore accounts at that Bank. Just “Follow the money.”

    Seems the plastic blog master “Taylor’s” everyone’s blogs when they get a little hot – or feeling uncomfortable with the suggestion
    of the unambiguous manifestation of timely truth – it must trigger the Barbadian Government secret Amendment’s cloak of privilege.” We suppose this is because a person’s may remain silent for reasons other than self-incrimination, such as the potential incrimination of others. Since this DLP / BLP amendment applies only to self-incrimination, remaining silent and removing blogs to protect others should not come within that unjust cloak. Seems Mr King is infact a Wannabe or Wanna – be “a pejorative for a person who wishes to be or do something, but lacks the qualifications or talent ” perhaps simply a drip fed co conspirator.

  5. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    @BushTea
    Where you went?

  6. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Bushie wrote “Looka….you better don’t provoke Bushie to rev up the old whacker yuh..

    Please use the whacker on the brassbowls who are legally permitting blatant apartheid in Barbados.

    http://www.nationnews.com/articles/view/muslim-project/

  7. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Meanwhile in Toronto.

    “The projects aims to foster knowledge and understanding within Muslim societies and between these societies and other cultures.”

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/stephen-harper-to-attend-today-s-aga-khan-museum-opening-1.2764535

  8. David Avatar
    David

    @Hants

    What about the Whites at Port St.Charles?

    On Friday, 12 September 2014, Barbados Underground wrote:

    >

  9. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    David I did not know Port St.Charles was whites only. I thought it was Rich only based on the cost of a residence.

    Are you saying that Tiger Woods or Rihanna could not buy property at Port St.Charles because they are not white ?

  10. Artaxerxes Avatar
    Artaxerxes

    overseasbajanyankee | September 11, 2014 at 10:18 AM |

    “@Bushie and Pat: I with you.It seems antax or however styled seems to have a political axe to grind and as david call ac a yard fowl, I now consider him to be a yard turkey flapping his wings all over the place.”

    First things first, you and Pat seem to be new to BU, and if you ask Bushie, he will tell you I have no political axe to grind, as I am loyal to no political party. My contributions are always substantiated by facts. Your contributions, analysis and critique of UWI thus far, are not evidenced by facts and data, but with “hear say”, gut feelings and a certain preference for a political party. Perhaps, if you are man/woman enough, you can point out to BU where I have demonstrated that I have a “political axe to grind”.

    I must inform you that the DLP forms the government of Barbados…….. like it or not, as a voter and tax payer I have to the RIGHT to criticise them if, in MY opinion, they are doing shiite.

    Essentially, you have been writing a lot of shiite as it relates to the UWI issue.

    1) You said that UWI are offering degrees that are not acceptable, to which I corrected this false assumption by presenting information that UWI has accreditation status as recent as 2013.

    2) Your September 10, 2014: 6:42 PM post stated in part “UWI now has to market its degree to attract international students.” I responded by informing you UWI has been actively involved in a student exchange program in collaboration with a number of universities in France, Brazil, Canada, Sweden, the USA and UK, just to mention a few. Also, the campus has had a steady intake of international students for a number of years. To prove my point, I referred you to the International Office web-page of Cave Hill campus.

    3) On September 10, 2014: 6:02 am: you posted “It is now time for uwi to internationalise its institution and earn fx exchange.” I proved your assumption wrong once more by referring you to a Nationnews.com article dated Friday July 4, 2014 which clearly stated Barbados benefits from nearly $200M in overall economic activity as well as approximately $80M in foreign exchange earnings annually through UWI Cave Hill.

    If in my effort to correct your false assumptions, you label me as a “yard turkey, flapping his wings all over the place”, then so be it, I have no choice but to accept your accolades.

    However, if one uses your argument as a measuring stick, the way you are on about Owen Arthur, I can conclude that you are a DLP yard duck. And in keeping with the norm of that bird, your contributions are just shitting all over BU’s yard.

    People like you, having lived overseas for a number of years, see us here in Barbados as being less developed and come with your condescending, sanctimonious attitudes to force your beliefs (which you always think are superior) upon us. I am not prepared to accept them.

    You stated that you are a UWI graduate to post graduate level many years ago. That may be true, but you seem to be out of touch with the existing realities of present day UWI. I, however, am a post graduate of a more recent era.
    Post graduate studies entail research projects, which must always be substantiated by facts, and the sources identified. This fact causes me to question your claim to being a post graduate, since, as I alluded to previously, your contributions are based on “hear say” and gut feeling, with a leaning towards the DLP, and you bring no verifying proof.
    Then again, if you graduated “many moons” ago, perhaps the masters programs offered in the late 1960s, were not to the standard that now exists.

  11. are-we-there-yet Avatar
    are-we-there-yet

    BushTea;

    re. your 11:11 post yesterday in which you said:
    LOL; Your warnings are bovine excretement
    Look around Barbados…..where is the UWI legacy in leadership?
    Where is it in science? Where is it in business? In enfranchisement?

    Niherst put out a document sometime ago naming icons in science, most of them graduates from one or other of the UWI Campuses. There are a few from Barbados.

    Check it out:

    http://www.niherst.gov.tt/icons/icons-by-name.htm

    Those are just in Science;

    In leadership you have to look no further than OSA and Busy Williams, Both graduates of UWI, to verify that it is YOUR statement that is bovine excrement.

    In Business, no further than the same Busy Williams and Bjorn Bjerkhamm, both graduates of UWI, St Augustine.

    In Government there are/were several UWI graduates who performed admirably until this present Government started on its mindless destructive path.

    I’m certain that some of the other posters on BU can name several UWI graduates who have and continue to contribute meaningfully in all the areas you stated.

    I know that it is just your style but think

  12. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    In Business, no further than the same Busy Williams and Bjorn Bjerkhamm, both graduates of UWI, St Augustine.
    ……………………………………………………………………………………….
    Man they did not have to go to UWI or any other university to make it. They are making it via the likes of Minister “snap me like a cheshire cat ” Lashleys, and Minister “Skinny Mout” Lashley not forgetting Greasy Mout Lowe. They are raking in stacks of taxpayers money from housing projects nobody seems to want and rent from property occupied by Government , as well as illusive drinking water supplied to BWA from the desal plant.
    They are government sponsored 3 Card Brag men, ask Plantation Deeds.

  13. Prodigal Son Avatar
    Prodigal Son

    Colonel Buggy | September 12, 2014 at 5:12 PM |

    Ha, ha……Colonel……this is a good post!

  14. overseasbajanyankee Avatar
    overseasbajanyankee

    @art
    since u r a recent post-graduate student, please inform this blog whether uwi ‘s masters in project management is internationally recognized.

    Ascertain for this blog how many fx students from outside the region are registered annually with that institution broken down by faculty.

    I hope when u were doing research for your post-graduate u did not misrepresent the facts/ I made mention of the fact that the post-graduate in project management was not recognized internationally as it was stated that it was too theoretical. you can go back to my blog and recheck.

    I want you to check and inform this blog how many international students are registered in the faculty of medical sciences.,

    who undertook the study. To make u wiser, I have studied under the old system as well as the semester system, and I am aware that some students get people to do their papers. I have heard of cases where people are writing papers for payment.,

    If I want to, I can write in technical language here to show off/

    I maintain that uwi must restructure and force people to think critically. No wonder it had to raise the minimum passing mark. UWI has now become a production shop,

    I GONE ANTS

  15. robert ross Avatar
    robert ross

    BT

    You know very well that I have argued time and again that there are too many law students and, most recently, that the appointment of six new lecturers in law simply cannot be justified under present conditions. Your memory is not a “success story” sadly.

    Some of the law graduates, who these days are mostly female, are very good indeed. Most are rather mediocre.

    You also know that I am not a graduate of UWI.

    But I ask you again….what IS a success story? It’s a question not unlike ‘What is it to pursue excellence’? Surely a first rate sherpa is more desirable in the grand scheme of things than a second rate sahib? Which are you?

  16. are-we-there-yet Avatar
    are-we-there-yet

    Colonel Buggy;

    The point is that most in Barbados (and elsewhere) would say that they made it. The other point is that Bushtea and several posters here conveniently move the goalposts re. identifying success by insisting that one isn’t successful if one identifies a legal way to make money (once a verifiable indicator of success) and pursue that way to a logical conclusion if one can be tangentially identified as having at some point used Government as one of their vehicles to “success”.

    Of course one doesn’t have to have a degree to become a successful businessman and there are several examples of successful businessmen in Barbados who had no formal degrees but took chances, used their natural business acumen, grabbed the opportunities as they appeared, got knocked down when a business failed but picked themselves up and carried on and perhaps also strategically used the governments of former times to build successful businesses, eg. Everson Elcock, the proper pork man, Mr. Grant who now appears to be still the owner of Sam Lord’s Castle, etc, etc. I can’t put the CLICO man in that list even though he is possibly richer than any of the others above because the modus operandi of his company appeared to be first and foremost to entice and ensnare big up politicians to grease the wheels of that company’s success before most of their operations were revealed. A modus operandi which in other jurisdictions might have attracted a jail sentence.

    Forgive this dinosaur but what I find somewhat distasteful is that it is now fashionable to castigate UWI and its human products and, through hyperbole, suggest that UWI has made NO contribution of substance to Barbados and the region and that otherwise eminently sensible posters are buying into this mindset.

    Castigate the individuals who have apparently fallen from the expectations one might have of persons trained in their particular disciple but don’t tar the total university with that brush. I’m almost certain that any objective study of the performance and contributions of UWI graduates in general over the life of the University will show that the University has done no worse in the peerformance of its graduates than graduates from Metropolitan Universities who have worked in the Caribbean contemporaneously. Look elsewhere than the university in finding the brass bowls and apportioning blame.

    We are at a crossroads now in Barbados. Things are dire and it is necessary to identify how we got here, and not just the fashionably facile reasoning that our slide started long ago and therefore the governments of the past must bear equal responsibility with this one, which is de rigeur for comments from all and sundry on BU. There is a need to recognize that the path former governments have taken was generally in tune with governments throughout the world; that the crises of 2007-9 catspraddled most countries; but that the catspraddling of Barbados had an overweening home grown factor that resulted in our bottom-of-the-class performance in all spheres since then.

    Lef UWI ‘lone nuh.

  17. GEORGIE PORGIE Avatar
    GEORGIE PORGIE

    are-we-there-yet | September 12, 2014 at 4:51 PM |
    RE http://www.niherst.gov.tt/icons/icons-by-name.htm
    THANKS
    THIS LIST ONLY SCRATCHES THE SURFACE OF THE CONTRIBUTION OF UWI TO THE REGION AND ELSEWHERE

  18. Prodigal Son Avatar
    Prodigal Son

    The Minister of Transport made public today that his ministry will embark on a ten million dollar road repair program.Where is this money coming from? As necessary as this may be, with the public outrage on this tuition paying topic, if this government had any heart or soul, it would cut back on this, do the worst roads and try to help the 30% who cannot pay the tuition costs.

    It certainly did not help this inept wicked incompetent government when they decided to spend quarter million dollars on ten persons to fly to the other side of the world. The dems just do not care what people say!

    I was in the UK recently and visited a friend at the High Commission. Imagine my surprise when I was told that the new kid on the block has a new BMW. Could god, man!

    Can you imagine that Barbados is sinking deep down in a bottomless pit of debt, and this man goes up to the UK and already we the taxpayers have bought him a new BMW? I was there in 2010 and the BMW parked outside the mission for Tony Arthur, BDS 1 looked pretty new to me. Even if the car was due to be changed, in these tough times why did the vehicle had to be changed?

    This is what we on BU call mis-placed priorities. It cannot be right for the taxpayers be asked to provide a new BMW plus whatever new perks he will ask for and we have young people here crying their hearts out that they cannot return to UWI to finish their studies.

    And dems have bragging rights to being the party for the small man?

  19. are-we-there-yet Avatar
    are-we-there-yet

    GP;

    Yes, It does. Perhaps what some of the UWI graduates who post on BU should do is post a list of their classmates or other UWI graduates whom they know well (not themselves) who they think have been outstanding successes in their chosen field and have contributed significantly to Barbados.

    I could perhaps start the ball rolling by listing just a few UWI graduates who I consider to have made significant contributions to the Island and have been largely successful in their lives and should have made UWI proud. Some of these might not be known by the general public and have gone largely unrecognized by the people who dole out honours.

    Cedric Archer – retired Chief Engineer, MTW;
    Mark King – recently retired CEO of BL&P (I think he went to UWI)
    GVJ Garvey deceased, Farmer,
    Peter Webster – retired, CDB
    Victor Springer – Barbados Central Bank
    Basil Springer – formerly CEO of Systems Ltd
    Richard Hoad – Farmer and columnist
    Owen Seymour Arthur – former PM
    Chelston Brathwaite – Ambassador to China
    Frances Roach – former senator, Columnist
    Eslie Alleyne – former Head of NCST
    Hayden Blades – former head of CARDI
    Emmerson Beckles – FAO
    Cyril Clarke – former PS

    There are several others who don’t come to mind at present.

  20. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ robert ross | September 12, 2014 at 8:49 PM |
    “Surely a first rate sherpa is more desirable in the grand scheme of things than a second rate sahib? Which are you?”

    Come on RR, stop rubbing it in on the poor B T. He hasn’t a clue what you are on about.
    Maybe if you had said ‘Bwana’ instead of ‘sahib” he, B T, would be able to ‘cotton on’ as his ‘Massa’ approaches on horseback in the cane fields.

  21. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    What the hell!!!
    Wunna people don’t go out pun Friday night and have a beer and talk some shiite or nothing so…?
    Shiite man….Bushie relaxing last night and wunna here on BU pelting licks in the poor Bushman’s behind….

    …..anyhow…..the whacker is back…:)

    @ Enuff
    What does it matter where Bushie went? Facts are facts.
    What do you think Barrow intended when he committed the taxpayers of Barbados to 60 years of taxes – to fund free universal education?

    That in 2014 practically every big job in Barbados would be held by a foreigner?

    That since 2000 our leaders have clearly been CLUELESS, incompetent, crooked and inept?

    That Bajans would have billions of dollars in banks and not one shite invested IN THEIR OWN BUSINESS INTERESTS?….just doing slave work for Massey…..!!!….while their talents are buried in the sand-bank, awaiting the return of the master….

    That EVERY SHIITE that had been accumulated by his generation would have been sold to white people for a pot of broth?….BET, BS&T, BL&P, Plantations……

    That the cream of the education crop (on whom we spent the most money,) …would ‘up and run off to “white man land” – looking for the soft, easy life …sponging off developed countries…. just look on BU and see where the Crumpton Street scholars are located…MoneyB, Lawson, Hants, and the pretender…..

    What is the value of spending $500M per year in “education” and having to settle for the fruit we are currently reaping….?

    Bushie judges by the fruit…..not the branches, leaves or roots.

    @ are-we-there-yet
    Man don’t embarrass yuh self nuh….!
    List of prominent scientists Bushie’s ass….

    60 years of UNIVERSAL free education to PhD level…..and you come with some shiite list? Do you know that there are countries with NO KIND of educational assistance budget that can show longer lists….and include Nobel prize winners, and people who MADE A MAJOR DIFFERENCE in this world?

    Shiite man….we are so into mediocrity…..
    You’re just like Simple Simon who says that she is willing to put more and more money into education tax…..never mind the poor RESULTS….

    @ Ross
    Boss…let us not talk about lawyers.
    Why would you want to lower the level of debate now….?
    LOL. Ha Ha Ha

  22. overseasbajanyankee Avatar
    overseasbajanyankee

    @are we there yet

    can u tell me of the contribution of Mr. BECKLES TO Barbados’ development. I know he is with FAO tell me some more. By the way becoming a ps does not mean u have made a contribution, What has Cyril Clarke contributed to the Civil Service or while he was Ombusman. How has the NCST been contributing to Barbados name some of the things it has done or is doing?

    Please don’t just give names, especially those who have reached top positions in the public service as upward mobility has nothing to do with talent, but connection and in some instance politics. Quite recently, it was revealed that this lady did not perform well at an interview, in fact she was the worst candidate, but ended up with the top pick in the service, Just a caution, ig u r going to continue on the course of naming persons state their contribution to national or international development.

  23. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    …so wait….where all the bush whackers gone now….? 🙂

    Bushie is not proud of the fact.
    ….BUT there can be no question about the piss poor return on investment that we have been getting from our MASSIVE and ongoing investment in education.
    OBVIOUSLY something is wrong…

    It is about time that UWI takes a hit.
    As the representation of the peak of the education pile, surely they OWE us a duty of researching the VIABILITY of these massive cost that Bajans are called on to pay, .. and to DEMONSTRATE that it is a sound investment.

    ….and that lotta shiite recently about how much foreign exchange they bring in by hosting foreign students is just so much bull.

    If we wanted such results we would have invested in Four Seasons with the education funds. Damn foolishness!
    The results we expect from them is the production of hundreds of high quality, innovative, creative, brave and self-confident graduates who are honest, nationalistic, and who stand head and shoulders above others….

    We should have DIFFICULTY In choosing leaders….because of the EXCESS of good and proven candidate…..not because of the over abundance of jackasses that abound.
    …think all these foreigners would be able to come here do as they like if we had hundreds of REAL GRADUATES?

    Left to the bushman, NOT A CENT more would be thrown into that UWI hole UNTIL a rational and well thought out plan was presented that would give us the kind of results needed…..

    …and such results could NEVER be realized under leadership that is focused on begging the mother country for reparations…….

  24. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Bushie wrote “…so wait….where all the bush whackers gone now….? 🙂

    They watching paint dry. West Indies batting. lol

  25. overseasbajanyankee Avatar
    overseasbajanyankee

    @Bushie

    I am following your line of argument and is in agreement with you to some extent.

    have any of the uwi graduate, especially those in the area of computer science developed any applications that can impact on the computer industry?

    what research has been done to turn our bush into teas, like soursop tea, pearleaf tea, among others. I have recently been informed that the aloevera plant is barbadian. we towed with our black belly sheep and now it is all over the world, what research has been done and what marketing has been done to present it as an exotic meat,

    we have road tennis why havn’t we yet market it to become an international sport, where are the marketing graduates of uwi. why is the landship movement on its last journey,

    I have always said lawyers and doctors should be asked to carry more of the education burden. we give to them a profession, and a highly paid one, whereas the others, with the exception of teachers have a vocation.

    All the long talk coming from the mouth of babes like art(ant) and others
    cannot stop the reform that uwi must implement. The study was a public relation exercise to pressure the govt. regardless of which party wins the next election, there will be no turning back,

    I want to see the enforcement of the rules relative to scholarships. we provide scholarships and how many of them return to contribute to our development. I have a friend whose daughter got a scholarship and studies actuarial science and she has not returned to contribute, but is contributing to the Scottish society, I believe that we should cut down on the number of scholarship and offer one in each of the disciplines. The National Development scholarship should also be curtailed. there is too much abuse and interference by the political process in the issuance of such scholarship thus escalating the cost of our educational expenditure.

  26. are-we-there-yet Avatar
    are-we-there-yet

    Overseasbajanyankee;

    My point is that Bushtea, as is his wont, can be considered to have labelled every UWI graduate as non performing in every sphere of endeavour in Barbados and to have wasted the moneys spent on them from the public purse. That cannot be true. Do you think that, as a graduate of UWI, you fit into that mould? Do you think that there are none of your fellow students who have contributed significantly, even if unrecognized by the powers that be, and thereby give the lie to Bushtea’s hyperbole in that regard?

    Do you consider that it is the UWI schooling which has, according to Bushtea, only produced workers who cannot compete for the highest private sector posts in Barbados (as he could not have meant public sector posts)? Or are there other factors in the Bajan psyche and our historical political / private sector/ public sector interactions which might have contributed to that observation, if it is true? I suspect that a significant proportion of the foreign holders of the big jobs that he referenced are actually UWI graduates who were nurtured in a different environment and that nearly all those jobs are Private sector ones.

    I was merely trying to identify people who I felt had risen to the normally acceptable heights of places where University graduates work in Barbados. They may not be high achievers in your world but they are in mine and I suspect in that of several other Bajans.

    The names that you picked out I will leave you to research yourself and see what they have done that is above the norm in their work lives. But I know that all built on the UWI degree to rise to eminent positions in their respective spheres, All worked in areas that impacted on some aspect of Barbados’ development. All gave of their best and in the process some frugal ones moved from the status of hand to mouth to well off.

    If Bushtea had intimated that there needs to be significant changes in UWI’s way of doing business in the current environment I would wholeheartedly agree with him but I cannot agree with his tarring all products of UWI with the same brush. But that, I suppose, is his style.

  27. are-we-there-yet Avatar
    are-we-there-yet

    Overseas;

    FWIW, I agree with most of your 2;53 pm post which I only just saw. Will respond on it later.

  28. David Avatar
    David

    @are-you-being-serve

    Bush Tea seems to be making the bigger point that if you count the significant investment in education post Independence and correlate with our ability/capacity as a country to be productive and competitive as far as fashioning a wholesome and sustainable standard of living there has been a negative return on the investment in the last 20 years.

  29. Clone Avatar
    Clone

    Bushie
    I agree with you
    We continue to waste money while the ones that graduated from schools long ago keep perpetuating the ignorance of school ties. Imagine cawmere which receives some of the best students have not won a scholarship or exhibition for as long as I could remember.
    The BLP people on this blog called the Springer students duncy when they were assigned six form status.
    Lo and behold in the Saturday sun today, an article said they achieved a 92% pass rate in the first year of doing the CAPE exam. Good thing they duncy.

  30. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ Bush Tea | September 13, 2014 at 11:36 AM |
    “Left to the bushman, NOT A CENT more would be thrown into that UWI hole UNTIL a rational and well thought out plan was presented that would give us the kind of results needed..”

    Bushie you know very well the Anunnaki rarely agrees with the arguments you present here on BU. But when there is that conjunction or meeting of minds an event occurs that is similar to all the planets in a horizontal alignment with the Sun. In other words, a miracle of an epiphany occurs.

    The UWI, or more specifically, the Cave Hill Campus is not really an university but more so a training college for bureaucrats and slackers.

    How many internationally outstanding and successful Barbadians have gone to the UWI? Sir Garry? Rhianna? Patrick Husbands? George Lamming? Maybe Sir Frank Worrell. But who else? Those who know of any please identify them.

    Why is Barbados- and indeed the region served by the UWI- so dependent on a pharmaceutical industry based on North American and European research, synthesisation, genetic engineering and business profiteering?
    When is the UWI going to produce a cornucopia of drugs or chemical substances based on the indigenous plants of the region (and even some imported like marijuana) to help the local populations (especially black) manage their artificially-controlled lifestyle? Where are the regionally researched and sourced chemicals to assist the people of the same region in managing their lifestyle induced diseases like diabetes and other NCDs?

    Shouldn’t the UWI be in the forefront of research into the benefits and side effects of marijuana, neem, blue vervain and other plants that grow readily in the region?

  31. are-we-there-yet Avatar
    are-we-there-yet

    David; Miller;

    I recognize Bushtea’s larger point and I essentially agree with it but with the caveat that Barbados has been spoiled into believing that it punches above its weight and several of us do not recognize that the size of the country and the availablity of various resources militate against it being a world beater in most things. Thus, take our Athletics; Once in a blue moon a world rated athlete, or a singer comes along. There is very little that UWI can do to accelerate the occurence of such talent which entities other than universities typically develop. That is not to say that we should not strive for excellence but that we should recognize the limitations our size and resources places on us. If Jamaica does well with its athletes and with research on marijuana it is a consequence of the importance of these areas to its national psyche and therefore the skewing of the resources it provides to maintain that edge.

    Miller asks above:
    How many internationally outstanding and successful Barbadians have gone to the UWI? Sir Garry? Rhianna? Patrick Husbands? George Lamming? Maybe Sir Frank Worrell. But who else? Those who know of any please identify them.

    I can identify 3 and there are probably a few more: Dr Chelston Brathwaite, Owen Seymour Arthur, Oliver Headley, Kiffin Simpson (has an honorary UWI degree but I can predict your reaction to my naming him) and Bizzie Williams. I don’t know where Cardinale Warde did his first degree but I suspect it was UWI. Do you know how many bajans who got their first degrees at UWI have blossomed out as world class researchers and thinkers in First World universities). I can predict your reaction to this short list. But how do you really gauge internationally outstanding and successful Barbadians? by noting their names in an International Who’s Who listing? The question is really an example of us bajans seeing ourselves as world class on a 166 square mile Island with just a tad more than 1/4 million people. Why would Sir Gary, in his time, have found it necessary to go to UWI? What could UWI have taught him about cricket? (And didn’t Cave Hill set up a Cricket Institute? but of course you would bad talk that as it doesn’t fit in the present scheme of things for beating on UWI) Why would Rhihanna? Why would Patrick Husbands? UWI was before George Lamming’s time. Sir Frank Worrell had made his name before he went to UWI. These were all exceptonal unique talents who probably would have excelled wherever they were nutured or born. Why haven’t we produced another Garry Sobers or Frank Worrell? Why has’nt Trinidad or Guyana or Jamaica consistently produced world beating cricketers of natural talent?

    Re the other questions about a pharmaceutical industry? There has been ongoing research in Barbados and other UWI territories in many of the areas Miller listed. Some papers have been published but there is a need to go further and develop the medicines, etc. Jamaica has been spearheading this but it needs a more focused well funded effort.

    Have to run but will get back on this topic later. But if someone has access to NCST files and papers they may be able to shed some light on the question of Research.

  32. enuff Avatar
    enuff

    @overseasbajanyankee
    You got at least a postgraduate qualification from UWI. Pray tell what have you contributed to the Barbadian society?

    Only fools who don’t understand what is required for successful research would believe that UWI could develop pharmaceuticals etc. yap, yap, yap

  33. GEORGIE PORGIE Avatar
    GEORGIE PORGIE

    enuff | September 13, 2014 at 8:52 PM |
    @overseasbajanyankee
    re
    Only fools who don’t understand what is required for successful research would believe that UWI could develop pharmaceuticals etc. yap, yap, yap

    ONLY A FOOL WHO DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THE FUNDAMENTALS OF DRUG DEVELOPMENT AND PHARMACOLOGY WOULD WRITE SUCH SHITE. HE SHOULD TELL US OF THE UNIVERSITIES WHO HAVE DRUG COMPANIES.
    BUT THIS IS THE BU RUM SHOP. ANYONE WITH A COMPUTER CAN COME AND WRITE SHITE ABOUT ANYTHING–ESPECIALLY ABOUT THINGS THEY KNOW NOTHING ABOUT. HILARIOUS!

    YAP YAP YAP INDEED

  34. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    LOL @ are-we-there-yet
    Boss….give it up.
    …you sound like the lawyer who was trying to defend the blade runner….you have NO case…. 🙂

    As David pointed out, Bushie was NOT saying that NONE of UWI’s graduates were success stories…indeed, it may well be that UWI has produced the single most valuable human asset seen in the last century…..BUT this is not the point.
    The point is that an investment of $500M per year in a population of a quarter million is a MAJOR investment in the development of human and intellectual capital.

    BY ANY MEASURE…the results do not reflect that level of investment…
    ..indeed, Millers assessment that UWI CHILL is “more so a training college for bureaucrats and slackers.” Is frighteningly borne out by the reality that we see in 2014.

    Man ……just plead guilty and throw yourself on the mercy of the court nuh….and stop trying to defend the indefensible…

    @ Miller
    Shiite boss….if you wid Bushie it probably calls for a serious rethink of the bushman’s dogmatic position on this matter…..
    Thankfully, Ross remains a steadfast foe….. Ha Ha Ha

  35. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Enuff
    Only fools who don’t understand what is required for successful research would believe that UWI could develop pharmaceuticals etc.
    +++++++++++++++++++++
    True that!!!

    It requires intelligent, committed, bright, innovative and self-confident researchers……so perhaps only a fool would believe that UWI could do such….

    Bet however, that they have many examples of jokers who, after years of education monies being spent on them, and having failed to make any meaningful contributions in their field, ran away looking for easy work scrambling for crumbs off the tables of foreigners…
    “bureaucrats and slackers.”

  36. GEORGIE PORGIE Avatar
    GEORGIE PORGIE

    Manley West and others were doing research on ganga since 40 years years ago at MONA. THEY WERE ” intelligent, committed, bright, innovative and self-confident researchers ” BUT IT TAKES A LOT OF MONEY TO GO THROUGH THE SEVERAL STEPS NECESSARY TO BRING A DRUG TO THE MARKET.……

    CAN ANY ONE LIST THE UNIVERSITIES IN THE WORLD THAT HAVE A DRUG COMPANY?

    I KNOW OF UWI GRADUATES AND OTHER EX HARRISONIANS WHO WORK FOR DRUG COMPANIES IN THE USA

  37. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    A good number of them work for the Viagra and Cialis people and contribute in a major way to world happiness and to the happiness of ole farts like Bush Tea.

    For that alone UWI deserves a billion dollars.

    Do I hear “Aye”

  38. enuff Avatar
    enuff

    Thank you GP! BushTea I tell you to stop oh gosh.

  39. David Avatar
    David

    @enuff

    To clarify, are you saying they are not universities across the world collaborating with private sector and engaged in cross discipline approaches to drug research?

  40. robert ross Avatar
    robert ross

    BT

    “A steadfast foe”…not really you know. I understand and at one level accept what you are saying. At another, it seems to me that human value cannot be measured by your concept of ‘success stories’. Miller understand where I’m coming from Boss/Bwana.

    Does the absence of success have something to do with the expansion of tertiary education with the corresponding lowering of standards to accommodate third rate (intellectually) students?

  41. Life Changer + Avatar
    Life Changer +

    @ Ross
    The unqualified wannabe. All dressed up on a Sunday with no were to go.
    Your embellishment of every captioned matter is outrageous. Un qualified, what do you actually do for a living… Or more appropriate late night out – with your buddy Innis at Adrian’s guest house – 4hrs for $50.

  42. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Ross
    Does the absence of success have something to do with the expansion of tertiary education with the corresponding lowering of standards to accommodate third rate (intellectually) students?
    ++++++++++++++++++++++
    You know, your problem is that you are ahead of your time.
    That is the specific problem. However it is even bigger than that …and it goes to your point about success.
    “Success” is a measure of the achievement of set goals and objectives. This means that Bushie’s “measure of success stories” CAN INDEED be a viable and realistic measure of success.

    Back in the 1960s when a strategic decision was taken to make taxpayers stand the cost of universal education, the main OBJECTIVE was not to “make all Bajans degree holders”. Much more practically, it would have been to ensure that as many as possible were empowered to reach their own individual capacity and largely be available to design, promote, lead and support the country’s development into a SUCCESSFUL future.

    Drilling down into such a national strategic plan, this would necessitate the creation of certain skill-sets that would be driven by the prevailing global realities….in short, the creation of an ongoing pool of “success stories”

    To the extent that in 2014 we cannot easily identify ANY such pools….in ANY critical areas…..is as clear a measure of performance of our education system (and of UWI as a main driver) as you can want.

    @ Enuff
    LOL
    Never. 🙂

  43. enuff Avatar
    enuff

    @David
    I am saying the opposite and that’s fundamental to my argument! GlaxoSmithKline partially funded the construction of a new chemistry lab at the University of Nottingham to the tune of £12m. It was destroyed by fire yesterday.Note I said partially funded and GSK. Now tell me where such an opportunity exists in Barbados as in funding and drug company? Research is about collaboration internally and externally does that struxture exists at UWI? Are there 8 unis around the corner where lecturers can meet and work on collabs?

    The US has MIT, U of Penn and Stanford etc; in the UK there is Oxford, Cambridge, UCL and Imperial etc yet inequality, polluted cities and boom and bust persist. The lack of research by UWI is not the problem, we all know it is bad governance, greed, nepotism, corruption etc.
    Bushtea et al looking for a scapegoat. Isn’t a “highly educated workforce” always noted as a key reason why international businesses find Barbados attractive and have UWI not played a big part? UWI is not perfect (Oxford neither!) but given what we have accomplished post 1966, it seems bitter if not assinine to infer that our investment in education was wasted because of the reasons being advanced.

    This link is a good read:

    https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=YIUVVOrIK4-w7AbeyIDoAQ&url=http://www.snowballmetrics.com/wp-content/uploads/RIM_Report_Research-Futures-Consortium-.pdf&cd=10&ved=0CDIQFjAJ&usg=AFQjCNG3MZCbMcj2PQmJCoWTAu8L5ZNfog&sig2=ZArbB6wfLRQR39pTCgGMcQ

  44. David Avatar
    David

    @enuff

    Thanks for the link, read the executive summary quickly. Always wary of the US model which is anchored in greed and capitalist priorities. What is preventing the UWI to engage in strategic alliances (just asking)? If we as a geography we do not pursue research in our best interest who will? How should we define our national priorities?

  45. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Enuff
    Bushie is not looking for any scapegoats.
    Shiite man, those are the easiest things to locate ’bout here.

    Your own posts contradict you position. In the world of 2014, THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE IN OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNIVERSITIES DUE TO LOCATION.

    Bushie can be in constant hourly contact with the latest research, in ANY area of research practically anywhere in this world.
    The difference is in QUALITY.
    It is in intelligence
    In creativity
    In commitment.

    Do you think that if a researcher at Cave Hill was making state of the art progress in the use of bay leaf for the control of high blood pressure …that one of the world’s biggest drug companies would not be interested?
    Do you think that if a UWI researcher conceptualized a new model of governance that provided for significant improvements in societal effectiveness, improved transparency, and citizen involvement….that the world would be disinterested?

    The missing link is QUALITY…..they will only be interested in WORLD CLASS QUALITY.
    No one gives a shit about jokers who know how to run to google and copy what others have already said….which is what UWI teaches.
    LOL….
    Don’t you see how Dompey likes to quote Kant and others to show how well he can follow…?

    Case in point…
    Jamaica develops the very best sprinters in the world and what happens? ….EVERYONE is falling head over heels to invest, sponsor and be associated with Jamaican sprinting…..
    It ALL begins with QUALITY and high standards…..

    …and what is our mantra..?
    A graduate in every household….all are welcome….anything goes…

    Lotta shiite…….

  46. overseasbajanyankee Avatar
    overseasbajanyankee

    @Bushie

    the more I read your posting the more I realize that uwi must reform or die. I was a mature student in the 1980 when I graduated from uwi and at the time there was a group of us who used to challenge some those developmental theory. After a while we became complacent and accept the status quo, but we, young and old must recognize that we cannot continue like we use to, as all facet or Barbadian society must be scrutinized, evaluated and new models must emerge for governance of the private and public sector. IT is a pity that so engrained in our psyche is the recycling of politicians from both political parties which have perfected the art of deception to capture the govt and thereafter continue the practice providing the avenue for the perpetuation of the dominance of a minority class over the economy, and by extension the political process through contributions to the political parties.

    The time has come for Barbadians to start demanding good corporate governance form the business leaders, the church leaders, the head of statutory boards and government departments. WE cannot continue with our champagne taste and mauby pockets syndrome, else for ever we will be operating with a fiscal deficit which will pass on to our children to pqy off. I was thinking that barbadians should insist that each politician account for his/her stewardship every year. This will allow the electorate to glean whether the representative was asleep or awake. LOL, did I say asleep.

    WE NEED A PARDIGM SHIFT IN OUR WAY OF THINKING TO FAQSHION A NEW DEVELOPMENTAL MODEL. IT CANNOT BE BUSINESS AS USUAL.

  47. GEORGIE PORGIE Avatar
    GEORGIE PORGIE

    Do you think that if a researcher at Cave Hill was making state of the art progress in the use of bay leaf for the control of high blood pressure …that one of the world’s biggest drug companies would not be interested?

    NO THEY WILL NOT

    1-DRUG COMPANIES DO THEIR OWN RESEARCH
    2 BAY LEAF EXTRACTS WOULD NOT ALLOW ANY DRUG COMPANY TO PROFIT. any one can go grew bayleaf and boil it………….they wont get a patent

    how does one make” state of the art progress in the use of bay leaf for the control of high blood pressure ?” what is “state of the art progress in the use of bay leaf for the control of high blood pressure ? ”

    what shite? the bay leaf either causes a fall in blood pressure or it does not?
    there are only two major equations about blood pressure; which of the modalities in these two equations are “state of the art?”

    WHAT A LOAD OF SHITE! DOES BAY LEAF HAS A “STATE OF THE ART MECHANISM OF ACTION ON LOWERING BLOOD PRESSURE?

    CLEARLY THE WAY DRUGS ARE DEVELOPED FOR THE MARKET IS NOT UNDERSTOOD BY THE WRITER OF THE SHITE I QUOTED ABOVE

    BUT ITS ANOTHER DAY AND THERE WILL BE MORE SHITE IN THE BU RUM SHOP BY THOSE WHO THINK THAT THEY KNOW, AND THEREBY DEMONSTRATE THAT THEY DONT BY THE SHITE THEY TALK.

    what is our mantra..IN THE BU RUM SHOP?
    ….all are welcome….anything goes…
    Lotta shiite…ALL DAY EVERYDAY AND USUALLY BY THOSE WHO DONT KNOW WHAT THEY TALKING ABOUT

    LET ME GO AND WATCH SOME CRICKET.DO

  48. David Avatar
    David

    What is coming through in the exchanges so far is to what extent do we as a country take on risk to guard and build a better society, the consideration cannot be only based on economics.

  49. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    @BushTea
    Has technology stopped Silicon Valley? Who gine fund the research into bayleaf? I am not surprise that you would seek to trivialise the link after all your arguments are based on emotion and “I know everything” rather than EVIDENCE.

  50. GEORGIE PORGIE Avatar
    GEORGIE PORGIE

    Enuff | September 14, 2014 at 11:07 AM |
    Who gine fund the research into bayleaf?
    NO ONE

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