Graduate enrolment at the University of the West Indies has continued to increase more rapidly than the growth target set in the 2002– 2007 Strategic Plan. The target growth over the Plan period was 6.2% annually. Between 2002 and 2005 the average growth across the University was 13.3% annually, with growth in the 2004/2005 academic year being 8.3%. This growth in enrolment has occurred in both taught graduate programmes and research degrees, but has been more rapid in the former (~15% annually) than in the latter (~ 9%) annually. Currently, about 25% of all graduate students are research students. The rapid growth in taught graduate students is in part due to the rapid expansion in the number of taught graduate programmes available at the UWI. The number currently stands at about 160, with eleven new taught Masters Programmes having been approved by the Board in the year under review. These included Masters Programmes in Epidemiology, Electrical and Computer Engineering, International Management, International Economics and International Law, Literacy Studies, Applied Meteorology, National Safety and Strategic Studies, and Aquatic Science, inter alia.

The goal of increasing the proportion of full-time graduate students has also progressed well. The goal was 37% of all graduate students full-time by 2007; in academic year 2004/2005 35% was attained. For research students, the goal was 50% full-time by 2007; in 2004/2005 it was 48%. Currently, about 12% of all graduate students are full-time research students.

Throughput rates of taught graduate students are more satisfactory than those for research students. Although the number of research students enrolled is about 25% of all graduate students, only about 7% of the students graduating in 2004 were research students – an unacceptably low output for the UWI. Moreover, there are other indications that the goal of increasing research output is being inadequately addressed and achieved. A strategic target was that 75% of academic staff should publish at least two papers per year in peer-reviewed journals. As best as can be determined by documented data, the current figure is closer to about 12%. A strategic goal was that the number of scholarships available to full-time research students should be increased by 10% annually and their value by 3% annually, but the number and value of scholarships has remained relatively constant between 2002 and 2005. A strategic goal was to develop substantial Post-doctoral Programmes, but there has been little progress on this to date. Perhaps in part as a consequence of the limited research output at the UWI, but also because of the high economic costs and tuition fees for international students, there has been negligible progress towards the strategic goal of a 20% growth in international graduate student enrolment by 2007. Currently, enrolment by international students is about 0.6% of total graduate student enrolment.