CMU’s road to recovery

A strategic plan to restore the image of the sole internationally-approved maritime education and training university in the Western Hemisphere has begun to bear fruit.

Employing a multipronged approach to repair the massive reputational damage as well as elevate it to a higher standard, the administration at the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU), led by its president Professor Andrew Spencer, is intent on restoring the credibility and respectability of Jamaica’s seafaring training facility.

“When I joined the CMU in 2022, I knew it was the right decision,” Professor Spencer told journalists at a Gleaner Editors’ Forum on Wednesday, outlining his mission to repair and reclaim the university’s image.

“Having gone there, what I saw would have been the remnant of systems which needed to be refined, but also individuals who were filled with talent. I saw value in terms of the expertise and technical competence in the maritime and nautical space, and even outside of that in logistics and many of the other areas in which we engage.”

Established in 1980 as the Jamaica Maritime Training Institute through a partnership with Norway, it developed a reputation over the years as a leading academy in maritime education and training. It earned university status in 2017, and continued to churn out graduates that are among the world’s top nautical specialists.

Unfortunately, in 2019, under the leadership of Professor Fritz Pinnock, CMU became embroiled in a national scandal that flowed from the education ministry, stemming from allegations of corruption, nepotism and cronyism. This led to a multi-agency investigation.

Five years later, the case is ongoing, as Pinnock, as well as former education minister Ruel Reid, his wife Sharen, their daughter Sharelle, and Jamaica Labour Party councillor Kim Brown Lawrence are facing accusations in relation to nearly $50 million which investigators claim was allegedly diverted from CMU.

The five are charged with a range of offences, including breaches of the Corruption Prevention Act, conspiracy to defraud, misconduct in a public office at common law, and breaches of the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Several other operational negligence were later uncovered at CMU, which impacted its operations.

An Auditor General’s report identified weaknesses and mismanagement in CMU’s governance and monitoring framework, accounting processes, procurement and contracts management practices.

“These weaknesses, if left unresolved, will increase the risk of losses and regulatory breaches and could ultimately undermine the execution of CMU’s mandate,” the report noted.

A new administration was put in place to restore and restructure the institution.

Three years ago, Professor Spencer replaced Professor Evan Duggan as the man at the helm, and he and his team have since embarked on a strategic and systematic governance, financial and management programme aimed at making CMU a leading nautical centre of excellence.

Spencer, who came to CMU after 15 years at another university, said he found a rich landscape of innovation and technology there.

“I found an opportunity for transformation. Getting the systems to align with the quality of the people to serve Jamaica and the region,” he said.

CMU’S MAIN OFFERINGS

CMU has three faculties, with its core being Marine and Nautical Studies currently comprising an elite group of about 200 students from a body of almost 3,000.

In the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Technology, Professor Spencer boasts that training and certification are of first-class standard.

CMU, he said, is the only university that offers a degree in Mechatronics – a combination of mechanical and electrical engineering that provides skills needed in the advanced automated manufacturing industry.

The largest number of students are in the Faculty of Shipping and Marine Logistics.

“Our graduates are everywhere. They work in manufacturing, the energy (light and power) industry, logistics, marine tourism, cruise shipping and entertainment, customs, tanker… everywhere that requires logistics management,” Professor Spencer told the forum.

Part of Spencer’s transformation thrust was to increase enrolment at the institution. The current academic year has shown a significant increase in enrolment, up from the severe drop during the COVID-19 period, and even in its heady days.

STRENGTHENING GOVERNANCE PROCESSES

Professor Spencer said the Auditor General was very clear on the many areas of weaknesses at the institution, but also outlining the key areas.

“We went through a process of strengthening our governance processes. There was a conversation about our procurement activities. We needed to refine that and we pegged the two things,” Spencer said.

“One of the things I found early in September 2022 was that we had a division which had projects and procurement in the same location. To my mind, having served in the government service before, there needed to be a clear separation. We quickly moved to have that rectified and bring in leadership for procurement.”

Close attention was also given to avenues that could provide loopholes for abuse.

The institution was also forced to clean up its registry, paying attention to the receipt of certificates after completion of programmes.

Following the debacle, howls of accusations were levelled at CMU by graduates who complained that they were unable to get transcripts and/or their certification after completing their studies.

Systems, Professor Spencer said, have since been implemented to make the process seamless and foolproof.

“This was not mentioned in the Auditor General’s report but it was a report that leads you. For example, the absence of a human resource manual, discussions which were taking place for 20 years with the Ministry of Finance, we have brought that to conclusion,” he disclosed.

UNRESOLVED ISSUES

The Auditor General’s report spoke of a free-for-all at the entity, which opened doors to widespread financial and management abuse. Several of the issues outlined are yet to be resolved. Among them is the disappearance of four motor vehicles that were the property of the State, on loan to CMU from the Ministry of Transportation and Mining.

On February 10, 2022, the Integrity Commission’s Director of Investigation, Kevon Stephenson, commenced a probe into allegations concerning impropriety, and irregularities in relation to the disappearance of the vehicles – a 2001 Isuzu Trooper, a 2002 Isuzu Trooper, a 1998 Isuzu Pick-Up, and a 2002 Mitsubishi L200.

After two years of investigations, the IC’s director of investigation singled out former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Mining, Dr Alwin Hales; former head at CMU, Professor Fritz Pinnock; and CMU vice president, Dr Eron McLean as being responsible for the disappearance of the vehicles.

The IC named them as accountable officers, making no citations of them benefiting personally.

McLean remains at the university but with reduced responsibilities. Previously he was in charge of projects, procurement and planning, Spencer stated. But he is now only responsible for facilities and maintenance and has no direct budget oversight for the area.

AUDITED FINANCIALS COMPLETED

Also in shambles was CMU’s annual financial statements, and the troublesome years, 2017-2020, are now being reconciled, the professor said.

“Through much effort we have finally completed audited financials for 2018 and received the management letter. We have now procured new auditors to take us up to 2021 by the end of the upcoming financial year. Our timeline for becoming current will then be realised very soon,” the CMU president said.

“Thereafter, 2012 onwards will have clean accounts under the leadership of professors Gordon Shirley and Evan Duggan and myself.”

But it was the abuse of the financial processes at the institution that raised the greatest red flags. Spencer said CMU needed a cultural overhaul.

“We spent a lot of time and brought in new talent, new systems. We looked at how we synchronise student registration systems with the financial system, which is connected to the digital transformation process,” Professor Spencer stated.

“A new office has been established called the Office of Digital Transformation, which is making sure that there is no room for human error or human intention outside of what the system should allow.”

CMU A GEM

“The brand took a hit. But what we saw in the local space was not what we saw in the region and rest of the world, which I found quite interesting,” Professor Spencer shared.

“On my first trip, the feeling in the region was that the CMU was a gem that was serving an economic landscape that we could not afford to lose. That was what our partners were telling us about at the Caribbean Shipping Association, and how can we get beyond this. The CMU is bigger than any individual or set of individuals. It’s about serving a trillion-dollar industry.”

There was also no approved organisational structure in place when the institution was promoted to university status.

“In essence, what was being utilised was a document for the CMU created by the CMU, and that is not how government entities operate. So we had to make that right, and that gave us the opportunity to identify the skills that we needed. And that also gave us the opportunity to identify the skills that were needed to take us to the next frontier of what we wanted to achieve,” the professor told Gleaner journalists.

“We focussed on fixing our internal systems, the things that would then allow us to have the platform to be able to make a lot of noise about the exceptional graduates we have. One of the proudest things about us, and we had to make the messaging surround that, is that our graduates get rave reviews.”

CMU graduates, said the president, have the highest absorption rate among tertiary graduates, with 80 per cent getting jobs within six months of graduation.

Industry feedback, he said, speaks to an ethos of discipline among CMU alumni and their performance in the work space. This has provided a platform for the university to not only sell its programmes, but also its training.

Currently, there are 13 memorandums of understanding with institutions and businesses in several countries around the world aimed at mutually benefiting the students, CMU and its partners.

Professor Spencer said his mandate and that of the university is to help Jamaica make the connection between CMU’s operations through the movement of goods by sea – which accounts for close to 90 per cent of its work and function – to the benefit of the country.

It is important, he said, for consumers to grasp the fact that anything on the shelves not made or manufactured in Jamaica are here as a result of shipping operations.

CMU’s plans for stability, growth and innovation are the foundation on which it is cementing for the 2022-2027 period.

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com

Caribbean Maritime University’s key areas of focus: 2022-2027

1. RESEARCH – The Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) is enhancing its output of cutting-edge research while increasing its ranking and visibility. It is also developing a CMU-based research repository, and mentor students interested in undertaking research focused programmes.

2. ADMISSION – The university is increasing its international and regional student population and forging memorandums of understanding and partnerships with other institutions to aid in student exchanges.

3. FINANCE AND ACCOUNTS – Among its aim is to improve the financial record keeping and processes of the university, while creating financially feasible opportunities for students.

4. ADMINISTRATION – Improving the administrative services of the CMU is paramount.

5. EMPLOYEES – CMU is upskilling its faculty and staff members for professional and personal improvement, to provide greater value to the university.

6. MARKETING – CMU is increasing its market reach and visibility, regionally and internationally.

7. PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT – Improvements are being made to the physical plant, inclusive of digital infrastructure, for the achievement of a sustainable university.

8. DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION – The university is undertaking a modern digitisation exercise by expanding its capacity to enhance and support the academic functions in hybrid teaching and learning experiences, administrative duties, and overall efficiency.

9. QUALITY ASSURANCE – CMU is committed to the continuous enhancement of the quality of learning opportunities provided to students by affirming operational accountability for the management of academic standards and quality within the university as advocated by the International Organization of Standardization (ISO) and the ISO 9001:2015 certification.

The Quality Assurance Department seeks to remain quality driven by:

a. Achieving accreditation for non-accredited programmes.

b. Improving internal Quality Assurance (QA) system.

c. Implementing more efficient customer focused Quality Management Systems (QMS).

d. Improving engagement with the Academic Board and the External Examiners System.