Report of the Vice Chancellor: THE FIRST YEAR

 
Introduction

The University of the West Indies and the Caribbean Countries in which this regional institution is anchored are undergoing a period of immense regional and global change. For the Caribbean, limitations in size and population of our island nations, continued reliance on a small number of commodities for export, the likely removal of subsidies from our two major agricultural products, sugar and bananas, conspire together to make our economies ever more fragile and susceptible to competition from other developing and developed countries in our world today. Rising crime and violence, unmitigated poverty affecting a significant proportion of our population, the threat of destruction from the ever present forces of nature (hurricanes, earthquakes and volcanoes), deterioration of the environment and HIV/AIDS, all threaten to undermine what gains our societies have made.