Premier Addresses Low UWI Admissions

Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, September 2, 2022 – Despite having access to one of the top Universities in the world, very few Turks and Caicos Islanders take up the offer. Premier Washington Misick addressed the issue in a recent press conference, hinting that policy changes may be on the horizon

Only 13 students are currently enrolled at the UWI from the TCI.  When queried about the low attendance numbers, Premier Misick maintained that the university was one of the top in the world, being in the top 5 percentile of universities globally, and the problem could be the long-held practice of prioritizing the choices of high school graduates in universities.

“The government is still refining its scholarship policy— you can’t force people to go where they don’t want to go, but you can’t have a policy that helps to persuade them in one direction.” he said.

“Clearly we need to look at value for money, and whether we are inadvertently steering people away by so easily facilitating their choices of places to go, rather than where the government believes it can get the best value for money.”

He maintained that just because there was value for money, it didn’t mean there was any less quality in the education that residents would be receiving.  He also said Jamaica may have gained a bad rep with Turks and Caicos islanders based on what students say.

“A lot of our students have gotten the idea that it’s tough in Jamaica, that’s what I keep hearing, that students would rather not go there because life is more difficult.  Certainly, the institutions that I went to… I don’t think I’m any worse for it.” he said.

Of the thirteen TCI students studying at the University of the West Indies, currently four are studying at the Open Campus which is online. One student is studying medicine at UWI Cave Hill Campus.  At the UWI Mona Campus, one student is in sports coaching, three are pursuing sciences, and four are in medical sciences.

The Premier, who attended the University of Technology and Northern Caribbean University, said it was up to students to decide how well they would do in school overseas.