Government’s decision to stop funding medical students at St George’s University (SGU), Grenada will definitely impact the quality of education that will now be offered at regional campuses in St Augustine, Mona and Cavehill—with senior officials now expressing concern over the anticipated student increases and whether or not the respective faculties are equipped to handle it.
Government’s decision to discontinue funding new students in the medical programme at SGU effective August 2016, was announced by Education Minister Anthony Garcia on August 3, as he presented the new changes for the Government Assisted Tuition Expenses (Gate) programme.
He said the changes were necessary in light of the local economic downturn, which made it difficult to sustain the programme in its current form.
While the minister has stressed that the changes have not been cast in stone, he remains firm that it was too costly to continue funding students at SGU as he explained that it was costing government three times as much to send one student to SGU, as compared to any of the UWI campuses.
In term of figures, he explained that government would pay approximately $71,000 a year for a student accessing medical training at either of the three campuses, whereas at SGU—it was between $199,000 and in some cases as much as $250,000 per student.
Meanwhile, pro vice chancellor and campus principal, University of the West Indies St Augustine, Prof Brian Copeland, has confirmed that the medical programmes at St Augustine were currently “over subscribed.”
Subsequently, he is now urging those students who were contemplating attending SGU, “To look at the Medical Schools at Mona and Cave Hill.”
Copeland’s comments were made in response to emailed questions seeking information on the St Augustine’s Campus ability to respond to the anticipated demand by students wanting to study medicine.
He wrote: “The St Augustine Medical programmes are over-subscribed, so much so that there are many applicants who are admitted via a deferred list and have to wait an additional year to commence their studies each year. We cannot increase our student intake with the current facilities and teaching staff without impacting on quality. As such, enrolment numbers have to remain the same. I urge those who may have considered St. Georges to look at the Medical Schools at Mona and Cave Hill. It is one UWI and all three programmes are internationally accredited.”
Attempts to contact the Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Professor Terence Seemungal, proved futile. Seemungal is the current Head of the Department of Clinical Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences.
During an interview last week, Garcia said, “A large number of our students were unable to gain access to Mt Hope to continue their training and, as a result, negotiations were held with St George’s University that will allow our students to access medical training at St George’s. As things got better, Cave Hill in Barbados also opened doors to medical training and now among the University of the West Indies, we have three of our campuses offering medical training—St Augustine, Cave Hill and Mona (Jamaica).”
Claiming that the cost was prohibitive to continue sending students to SGU, Garcia went on, “The other aspect of the training in St George’s is that their training is geared towards the United States market and a number of our students who have gone to St George’s, they have migrated to the United States and therefore we found ourselves training persons for the United States market and quite a few of them did not return to Trinidad to do their obligatory service.”
Contacted yesterday, Garcia said a meeting with Copeland last Thursday looked at the introduction of means testing and developing the instrument.
On the issue of increased medical students at all three UWI faculties, Garcia said he was scheduled to meet with Copeland later this week to discuss a number of issues and that he would comment on the matter following that meeting.
When contacted, the UWI St Augustine Guild President, Makesi Peters agreed that the St. Augustine medical faculty was “Very small and the facilities do not really subscribe to a large population.”
However, he was quick to point out that student enrollment at SGU was also small with less than 100 students being admitted annually. He said some of those students might have been among those deferred from the UWI, St, Augustine, “Who did not want to wait another year.”
Peters said with the option for students now to attend campuses in Barbados and Jamaica, the situation should balance itself out.
However, he expressed confidence that the newly constructed facility at the UWI Mona Campus, Jamaica would be adequate to accommodate an increased student intake.
The UWI Guild, St Augustine, is set to meet with Minister in the Ministry of Education, Dr Lovell Francis, soon to discuss the new Gate changes and effects it was having on students who were already enrolled and those considering accessing tertiary education.
Attempts were also made to contact student representatives at the Mona and Cavehill Campuses.
No stats on UWI enrollment yet
Copeland has assured that there are existing policies in place to facilitate the easy and smooth transfer of credits from one university to the other.
Unable to say exactly how many students are currently enrolled at the UWI, St Augustine, Copeland said registration for the new academic year had not yet started and as such, there are no statistics for 2016 just yet.
Registration begins on August 22 and will close on September 16 - with the semester officially commencing on August 28 and teaching to begin on September 5. Last year, over 3,600 students were admitted from 16,000 applicants.
Copeland was unable to say what percentage of the university’s population was aged 50 years and over and how affected there were by the decision to discontinue funding for them at the tertiary level, as well as if there had been a decline in the number of persons pursuing post-graduate degrees.
Asked to comment on the matter of recovering monies from students who have not completed programmes and what process was in place for the reconciliation of this information from the UWI to the Funding and Grants Division, Copeland responded, “Gate is essentially a scholarship funded by the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (GORTT) awarded to the student, and the Ministry has the means to determine when students default. T
he UWI’s role in the Gate process is the provision to GORTT information on the status of all Gate funded students, primarily GPA. This is why Gate clearance is required by each student at the start of every academic year.”
Further pressed to say if this meant refunds would have to be forthcoming from the UWI or the respective student, Copeland wrote, “Gate transactions are really between the student and GORTT. The UWI’s role is to deliver programmes and courses for the tuition fee paid by GORTT and to report on Gate funded students’ performance to GORTT.”