Stop quoting tuition in US dollars - outgoing UWI principal
Published:Thursday | June 28, 2018 | 12:00 AMBrian Walker/Staff Reporter
Professor Archibald McDonald, outgoing principal of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Campus, was instrumental in the implementation of self-financed programmes at the institution. But now, he wants the policy of quoting fees for non-sponsored students in United States (US) dollars to change. Students pursuing these degrees do not receive government subventions that would reduce their tuition by 80 per cent.
"I won't be here, but if I were here, I would be advocating again for the fees to be quoted in Jamaican dollars," Professor McDonald told The Gleaner.
COPING STRATEGY
He pointed out that he supported the students in their push last year to have fees denominated in local currency McDonald argued that when self-financed programmes were introduced, the Jamaican dollar was constantly sliding, and US dollar pricing was the only way for UWI to cope. The principal reasoned that in recent times, there has been relative stability in the Jamaican dollar.
"They (university officials) disagreed with me. Let me be blunt. The management of the university and the campus said no, keep the fees in US dollars because it's too much risk (to quote in Jamaican dollars)," recounted UWI Mona's thirteenth principal.
Full-fee paying programmes were implemented as part of UWI's strategy to supplement its budget after the Government chopped its subvention by a billion dollars over a decade ago. Subsidies are given to around 80 to 100 of the 250 medical students who pay $624,605 annually. The remaining students pay US$28,000 ($3,640,000). All students at the Faculty of Law and Mona School of Engineering are self-financed and pay US$10,000 ($1,300,000), with the exception of those studying software engineering, who are charged US$12,000 ($1,560,000).
McDonald said, "When I was dean of medicine, I called it the 'Robin Hood policy', and I make no apology for that. I take from the rich to fund the poor, and I still make no apology for it. So that was the intention of the full-fee paying programmes - that if you were a rich Jamaican you would pay full fees so that poor people can come to the university."
The Gleaner reached out to the president of the Guild of Students for a comment on the issue of quoting tuition fees in US dollars, but he failed to respond.