UPDATED: UWI head tops salary scale for 2018

The head of the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) is better paid than the president of the University of Technology (UTech), The Sunday Gleaner has learnt.

For 2018, the CMU head received salary of $14 million inclusive of benefits. This sum is nearly $2 million more than the estimated $12.1 million paid to the president of UTech.

Former Education Minister Ronald Thwaites said during his tenure (2012-2016), the Ministry of Education had no say in the salary structure of the CMU (then the Caribbean Maritime Institute – CMI).

“The ministry of works would set it for CMI, with final approval from the ministry of finance. UTech has this category of higher levels that the finance ministry has to approve. But I did not know that the CMU head is paid more than UTech’s head,” Thwaites told The Sunday Gleaner.

“My original idea was never to charter CMI by itself, but to twin it with UTech, and I got some fierce resistance. The disparities in salaries now may have something to do with it.”

He added, “I thought Caribbean Maritime Institute should become a faculty of UTech, because it is part of science and technology and it came at a time when we wanted to raise up the pedigree of UTech, and CMI was doing very well.”

UTech, formerly the College of Arts, Science and Technology (CAST), was established to become the major polytechnic institution in the region, training scientists for all sectors.

“The argument was that it couldn’t go that way, because the various world maritime connections that CMI had required connection with a ministry that had responsibility for the maritime area. And that was why it was at the Ministry of Transportation and Works under Dr Omar Davies,” Thwaites stated.

The opposition spokesman on education said he never found out the reason for the change. He also found the difference in salary scale puzzling.

UTech is headed by former principal of the Norman Manley Law School and former Jamaican ambassador to Washington, Professor Stephen Vasciannie, who also served as deputy solicitor general of Jamaica.

NCU ALSO ON TOP

CMU is headed by Professor Fritz Pinnock, who holds a PhD in Sustainable Cruise Tourism from the University of the West Indies (UWI), Jamaica. He has a MSc in International Shipping and Logistics from the University of Plymouth, United Kingdom, and a BSc in Economics and Accounting (Management Studies) from the UWI.

In 2017, CMU graduated 250 students, conferring them with master’s and bachelor’s degrees, as well as diplomas in areas such as logistics and supply chain management; port management; cruise shipping and maritime tourism; international shipping; customs processes, freight forwarding and immigrations, and security administration and management.

UTech graduates an average of 400 students annually in a number of disciplines.

At a meeting on December 19, 2018, the University Council of Jamaica (UCJ) approved UTech’s application for institutional accreditation.

CMU received university status on September 28, 2017.

Meanwhile, the privately owned and Seventh-day Adventists-operated Northern Caribbean University (NCU) pays its head $300,000 more than that paid at UTech. NCU’s top post attracts a $12.4 million annual salary.

The highest paid is that of the head of The UWI.

UWI Mona’s highest salary is $33.6 million per annum.

Except for the CMU, on average UWI’s top 100 salaries are more than what are paid at UTech, CMU and NCU.

 

(EDITOR'S NOTE: A previous version of this article indicated that the CMU president received $14 million plus benefits. The CMU president in fact received $14 million inclusive of benefits for 2018.) 

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com