U.B. officials explain cutbacks
The University of Belize: rumours have been flying regarding retrenchment of staff, reduction of course offerings and relocation of facilities. On Wednesday evening News 5’s Patrick Jones travelled to the Belmopan campus in an effort to separate fact from fiction.
Patrick Jones, Reporting
Three years after its establishment, the University of Belize is undergoing a major overhaul. Managers of the institution say the restructuring is necessary if U.B is to become viable. The Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Omitade Adediran says the cuts are being done in a way that will ensure that no one is left behind.
Dr. Omitade Adediran, Vice President of Academic Affairs
“As we’ve examined the various programs and the various departments, we have also seen that to gain efficiency, we have had many duplication of services or overlap of services and in that event, and in that case, it means that certain programs, certain courses will be either changed or will be stopped or dropped, depending on the situation, so that will affect students.”
The situation at the nation’s highest institution of learning centres on trying to do much with too few resources. And among the most visible changes is the decision to reduce the number of faculties from six to three: Natural and Applied Sciences, Education and Business, Arts and Letters. And while there will no longer be a Faculty of Agriculture, Nursing or Engineering per se, these programs have not been eliminated. Instead, they will be amalgamated with similar courses under the Faculty of Natural and Applied Science.
Also on the chopping block is the bulk of the Associates Degree programs, which, according to Dr. Corinth Morter Lewis have been sucking up much needed resources, while offering little or no returns.
Dr. Corinth Morter Lewis, President, University of Belize
“And if we look at the fees that students pay, especially in the Associates program, they pay twenty-nine dollars per course that they do. And for that cost as against ninety dollars that is paid by the students who are in the Bachelors program, it means that the University is subsidizing heavily”
But the students already enrolled in programs that are being cut, will not find themselves out in the cold. According to Dr. Adediran, arrangements have been made with the junior colleges to absorb students who opt to transfer.
Dr. Omitade Adediran
“So that in the case of students who are in a program that will be closed, we’re looking to see what other programs are available that are very similar, and all of this will be addressed for students so that they don’t have to worry. I mean some programs will close and we will have no option, but we’ve also had conversations with all of the junior colleges who are willing to offer our students the opportunity to go there to complete their degrees if there is no program available within the university.”
The decision to restructure was taken at the same time U.B got the green light to move to Belmopan. That relocation is on pace to take place in January. But while arrangements have been made to cushion the re-organizational blow for students, some lecturers are left wondering what career adjustments they will have to make.
Dr. Omitade Adediran
“Our goal is to seek placement outside of the University structure for every employee. So we have been working very hard in that area to ensure that when the restructuring is complete that people are not unemployed. “
Dr. Corinth Morter Lewis
“The university has been struggling for quite some time in terms of meeting especially our recurrent costs. Salaries, as in most organizations and institutions, are perhaps our biggest debt or require the most of the outlay of our finances. And so those have been the areas, finding the money to meet all the programs, all the commitments all our faculties have been the areas that we have been working hardest on.”
With an annual operating budget in excess of thirteen million dollars, the tuition and fees from the student population of a little over twenty-two hundred, account for less than twenty-five percent of the institution’s revenue, leaving the administration to look to government and a few generous donors to make ends meet. Patrick Jones, for News 5.
The U.B. president says that part time students and adult learners need not worry, as their courses will still be available in Belize City after the January move. In the meantime, the Faculty of Nursing, which previously occupied the Baron Bliss building on St. Joseph Street, is being moved to facilities on the compound of the faculty of Education on University Drive.
