2011/2012 Annual Report - Open Campus - Uwi.edu

OPEN CAMPOur OCCS have provided essential services in the respectivecountries and many have been able to expand the rangeof services despite the shortfall in financial support fromcontributing governments.OverviewFOUR YEARS AFTER THE OPEN CAMPUS opened itsdoors, we undertook a comprehensive review ofits operations. As we approached the end of the2007–2012 Strategic Plan period it was importantfor us to assess the performance of thecampus against the aims and objectives that hadbeen set for it in that plan. it was also importantfor us to gather as a community to reflect, reconnectand collectively visualize the future wewished for our campus. While it is true that theelation we had experienced during our first campusretreat in 2009 had subsided somewhat inthe face of having to deal with the harsh realityof a regional economic downturn, we were neverthelessbuoyed by the impact that our campuswas already having on the lives of those particularlyin underserviced communities. We haveremained resolute in our determination to forgeahead with improving the quality of services andOc products and we have made strides in thisregard.We ended the year with optimism, havingreceived assurance from cidA that our grantproposal was being given attention. We investedmany hours working with the team to reshapethe document so they would conform to thechanged format required by the new cidAadministration. We were encouraged that ourundergraduate student online enrolment hadincreased at a steady 6% annually during thefirst four years and new postgraduate programmeshad attracted over six hundred studentsin a semester at the first offering. With therestructuring of the Academic Programmingand delivery division completed we began to seea steady increase in the production of onlinecourses. We gratefully accepted the supportgiven by the uAF in Jamaica which allowed us tobegin the much needed upgrading of the technologicalinfrastructure of our sites there. We alsobegan to explore avenues for redeveloping oursites in the OecS and we expect this project to4A C A M P U S F O R T H E T I M E S . . . A C A M P U S F O R T H E F U T U R E