National University Talks to Stakeholders About Improvement

And in more U.B. news, today the institution met with several stakeholders of the private and public sectors in a workshop to discuss institutional enhancement of the university in an effort to help drive the social and economic development of Belize.  The institution has received grant financing from the Caribbean Development Bank towards the cost of implementing a project entitled, “Institutional Assessment for the Enhancement of Operations of the University of Belize.” News Five spoke with Project Coordinator Noreen Fairweather who tells us more why this kind of internal review is necessary for the university.

Noreen Fairweather

Noreen Fairweather, Project Coordinator

“The main purpose of those funds is to really assist the university in implementing a project that we are calling the institutional assessment for the enhancement of the operations of the university. Basically, what that means is helping the university to improve its day to day operations, better direct its programme offerings and really fulfill its role as Belize’s national tertiary facility in the country. With that role of a national university in the country, comes responsibility of assisting the Government of Belize in achieving its goal of social and economic development. And so the university has done some internal assessment that says we need to do more and we need to do more to help us to meet that mission. It is a huge responsibility and we recognize that we have to do a little bit more. So, we have done some diagnostics, we have done the initial assessment and reviews and that is what we are sharing with our partners and stakeholders today – that these are our findings and this is a recommendation for our way forward and how we are going to move this university to the next level. But what we really want to do is to share with them so that they have the facts, the details, and the information and get their feedback. What is it you want to see our national university do; what are the programmes you want to see us deliver to meet your needs there whether you are in the public sector or the private sector? What is it you want the UB to stand for; what are the expectations and standards you want us to have.”