The University of the West Indies (The UWI), Mona Campus revealed that for the first time in six years, the institution recorded a positive comprehensive income. The revelation was made at the Campus Council Meeting hosted on Monday, March 7, 2022, by Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of The UWI Mona Campus, Professor Dale Webber.

Hosted under the theme, Redefining Possibilities, the Campus, Prof. Webber reported, embarked on several initiatives to improve the financial status and health of the institution and for the first time in 6 years, recorded a positive Comprehensive Income of J$467 million.

Delivering the Mona Campus’ Annual Report, Prof Webber said as a result of a materially favourable premium rate change in the pension re-measurement through Other Comprehensive Income (OCI), for 2021 Mona recorded a surplus in the comprehensive income of J$467 million (US$3.04 million) or a JA$1.5 billion improvement over the 2020 loss of JA$1 billion.” This, he said, is the first time since 2015 that the Mona Campus has recorded a comprehensive income surplus.”

While this is positive news for the Campus, Prof Webber qualified this statement by saying that this does not indicate a positive cash flow for the Campus for this accounting period.

According to Prof. Webber, the commitment of the senior management team to reducing unnecessary expenditure has borne fruit with the implementation of a financial plan that prioritized cash inflows and unnecessary spending even as the Campus gave additional concessions on tuition payment plans.

He explained that the positive income was achieved through several measures that are outlined in the Principal’s Annual Report.  These include, but are not limited to, office mergers; vacancy monitoring; staff restructuring; harmonization of the assessment of Doctor of Medicine (DM) Programmes across Campuses; the closure of the Centre for Hospitality and Tourism Management in the Bahamas; the negotiation of library subscription; and the establishment of a Cogeneration Plant. These efforts saved the Campus more than JMD$460m with vacancy monitoring accounting for more than half of this amount.

Further, the Campus saved JMD$750 million in water charges, a cost-saving measure Prof Webber credited to the Water Well Project. He said The UWI Mona is proud of the improvements to the sustainability of the Campus through the operation of the Well water extraction and supply facility. He remarked that the Campus is now prioritizing the improvement of the integrity of the Campus’ water distribution network in an effort to reduce wastage.

Giving his remarks at the Council Meeting, Prof Sir Hilary Beckles, Vice-Chancellor of The UWI stated that the Mona Campus will learn to live within a balanced budget and applauded the Campus management for their commitment to doing so. Additionally, VC Beckles said three issues account for driving the University into debt; the first of which was government receivables, followed by the “impairment of the receivables which leaked millions of dollars off the University’s balance sheet.” He cited the third issue being the “unfunded pension liability that serves as a brick around the neck of the institution”. 

He added that the University Grants Committee (UGC) has asked Sagicor President, Dodridge D Miller, to recommend a strategy to the UGC on how the liability can be addressed.

The first of the series of 2022 Council Meetings was hosted by The UWI Mona Campus under the theme Redefining Possibilities. In the coming days and weeks, the sister campuses will be hosting their Campus Council Meetings.

The schedule of UWI 2022 Council Meetings which are all aired on UWITv’s website, www.uwitv.org, its Facebook page, and Flow Evo Channels, are as follows:

Cave Hill Campus Council – Friday, March 11, from 8:30 am EST | 9:30 am (AST/Eastern Caribbean)

• St Augustine Campus Council – Tuesday, March 15, from 9:00 am EST | 10:00 am (AST/Eastern Caribbean)
• Open Campus Council – Friday, March 18, from 9:00 am EST | 10:00 am (AST/Eastern Caribbean)
• Five Islands Campus Council – Friday, April 1, from 9:00 am EST | 10:00 am (AST/Eastern Caribbean)
• University Council – Friday, April 29, from 9:00 am EST | 10:00 am (AST/Eastern Caribbean)