by Norman Girvan
Commentary
An item in Jamaica’s Sunday Gleaner (August 16, 2009) reports on the decision of the UWI Mona’s Law Faculty to turn itself into a “self-financing entity”. The majority of Jamaican students admitted to study Law will now have to pay almost the full economic cost of their education, amounting to US$10,000 per year (presently J$890,000, but this will increase as the Jamaican dollar depreciates). A minority will access the programme at the subsidised fee of J$201,000/year.
In addition, Jamaican law students wil no longer to the UWI’s Cave Hill (Barbados) campus to do years two and three of their degree. The cost of this is US$16,800 per year per student, and the UWI Mona cannot afford it.
This is a signficant development. It is a futher sign of the impact of the global economic crisis on Jamaica. One of the results has been a 9 percent cut (J$700 million) in the Government of Jamaica’s financial subsidy to the UWI Mona Campus.
There are several implications that are worth noting:
(1) The further erosion in Jamaica of the principle that “education is a right”, and extension of the principle that “ediucation is a privilege”, or better still, “education is a commodity to be bought” (the Gleaner article notes that the decision mirrors one taken by the UWI Mona’s Medical Faculty six years ago),
(2) the further reversal of opportunties for upward social mobility in Jamaica, law education being one of the principal historical means by which individuals from the lower social strata have moved upwards (only 80 high performing students/year will be admitted annually at the subsidised rate, which is still a hefty J$201,000 year)
(3) tendency for the reproduction of traditional patterns of class/colour stratification in Jamaica–only the economically privileged wil be able to afford fees of close to J$1 million/year
(4) removal of one of the sole remaining elements of regionalism in the UWI student experience–Jamaican law sudents will no longer be going to Barbados,
(5) further implantation of an individualistic, mercenary culture, amongst the professional elites, particularly the legal profession; and
(6) further differentiation within Caricom (and the Caribbean) in the availability of social services to the general population. In Babados and in Trinidad, tertiary education is either free or highly subsidised to all students gaining acceptance to the relevant institutions. In Cuba, education at all levels is free.
Commencing in three years time, when the first batch of graduates from the commercialised UWI Mona law programme begin to come on stream, we can look forward to the accentuation of a parochial, individualistic culture in the Jamaican legal profession, with a social composition that reproduces existing hierarchies in the society. This is a trend that may already be underway with increasing numbers taking their degrees from UWI competing institutions, as the Gleaner article points out. In other words, UWI is being forced to adopt the model of competitor institutions.
None of this, by the way, is to criticise the UWI officials who have made these decisions. It follows logically from the system in which we are a part and from the “rules of the game”. One of those rules is that payment of the public debt is the first charge on the fiscal budget. Debt service absorbs over 60% of the Jamaican budget. When debt service trumps all; social services must bear the adjustment. Ultimately it is the poor and the less privileged in the society who will be made to pay the social cost of the global financial crisis–a crisis provoked by the greed and irresponsibility of Wall Street and the City of London and of the governments that not only permitted, but encouraged, this.
Dear Norman,
Thanks for this; even though it adds to the deepening gloom. We used to say that the things we have done best together were the UWI and WI Cricket and that gave us inspiration to move on. Now UWI is in a phase of de-regionalisation as its necessary growth through de-centralisation advances. That was probably inevitable; but, in the process, a maturing CARICOM should have been doing for this generation what UWI did for ours. That has not happened. Meanwhile, WI Cricket has developed a death-wish and threatens to deprive us of our regional life-blood. Cricket is in our regional genes, in villages, in cities, in the world-wide diaspora. It integrates us, it defines us, it proclaims our oneness. Now with CARICOM faltering, with UWI fragmenting, with WI Cricket disintegrating, WI regionalism is approaching a state of coma. The mediation process in cricket is still alive and I shall not tire; but I cannot prevail against a Board and players in a suicide pact. My task is to prevent that fundamentalist folly.
Sonny
Sonny,
perhaps we can be cheered up by the fact that in the just concluded 100 metres final at the World Championships, the Caricom region had 5 of the 8 finalists–two from Jamaica, two from T&T and one from Antigua. Considering that the English speaking Caribbean has about 6 million people, to have produced five of the fastest eight men in a world of 6 billion must surely be more than extraordinary. Do the math: we are 0.1% of the world’s population, with 62.5% of the 100 metres finalists, so that the region’s representation in this event is 625 times our share in the world’s population. That must mean something. There is a similar picture with the female athletes. And the region, represented by Jamaica, took first and third places in the 100 metres; with Usain Bolt now having the feat of being the “first human to run under 9.7 seconds and now the first to run under 9.6 seconds” in the words of Ato Boldon of T&T.; and having both Olympic and World Gold Medals.
Our dominance in world cricket was of the same ilk and derived from the same kind of phenomenal athletic talent. Clearly the region has a kind of “international comparative advantage” in athletics and related sports. But cricket is the only sport in which, thanks to a historical accident, we compete as one team. We are in danger of squandering this precious asset due to plain stupidity and shortsightedness. The WICB and WIPA are like two men slugging it out on the deck of a sinking ship. Neither will yield, and neither seems to know our care that the ship itself is going down. The passengers–the West Indian public–look on helplessly. When will they stop this foolishness and work together to avoid the impending disaster?
Good luck with your mission!
Norman
I’m not sure that it is altogether such a bad idea to charge commercial fees for certain courses- especially in a situation where there seems to be no overall policies to guide admission to and investment in university education. Would this policy result in relatively more students going into fields in which there is a much more pressing need in Jamaica? We have a reasonably good idea what these are. Or, if it would at this point in time make no difference to the demand for law, relative to say education, engineering, agriculture, vocational training, then presumably there is a calculation that the additional earnings from the practice of law would more than compensate for the additional investment in the course, either parents investment or through student loans. If the latter does not exist adequately then the government’s role should be to see to it that it does. Eventually the cost-benefit ratio may no longer favor so largely investment in law education. Isn’t what government has been doing over these years the subsidizing of privilege, and/or of big earnings? While it cannot even find the graduates needed for the public sector legal services!!
As regards the regional aspect of this, I’m not sure that spending US$ 16,500 per year per law student in Barbados is the most cost efficient and effective way of promoting a sense of regional identity. It may be more a subsidizing of the over-valued Barbados exchange rate!! I’m sure the University can think of better ways of promoting the goal of regional identity.
Havelock
It seems to me that the only places where you now find something like cricketmania in the Caribbean are in Guyana, and to some extent in Jamaica, especially in the rural areas, and in the case of Guyana among the mostly Indian rural population. For the rest, my impression is that cricket is dying a natural death. It now has neither the regional glue nor the international glamor than it had generations ago (except among groups of fanatical aficionados). Is it worthwhile clinging on to something so frail and faded, and continuing to invest it with mythical, virtually supernatural qualities of old anti-colonialism and new regional community?? In rural Guyana, unlike elsewhere in the Caribbean, it lives on because of lack of economic and diversionary alternatives. In the diaspora it is nostalgia and a pleasant weekend pastime. And this is so despite the fact that cricket earnings have substantially increased. From where now comes the glue and the fuel for cricket. Is it not time to move on??
Indian cricket is a case worth studying. Like the Caribbean, an ex-colonial underdeveloped society, now with a widening range of economic and diversionary activities. But cricket is thriving here. Everywhere, in the poorest villages, on the beaches, in any unoccupied space, on roads you see bat and ball in action. It lives on not by some mythical qualities of anti-colonialist expression and of Indian unity, but by having internalized its economic and glamor dynamic. Of course there is the advantage that in India there are no other competing popular sports and there are not the distractions of and opportunities offered by the US next door. Here’s what a writer in the current issue of INDIA TODAY says ” Our masses are addicted to cricket which has successfully transformed itself from a mere sport into a multi-million dollar entertainment industry. Our cricket victories however are few. A World Cup win in 1983 and then more recently a Twenty20 World Cup triumph. Nothing much to celebrate, considering that not more than a dozen countries participate in the sport. “. Cricketers in India enjoy screen star -Bollywood- status and income, massive advertising endorsement income, indirect proceeds from gambling, etc. You can be sure that none of this is coming the way of the plain looking stunted black non-English-speaking boy from backwaters of Tamil Nadu or Andhra Padesh, those we see all around us, however talented. Like the Bollywood people this is an oligarchy of the social and physical elite – the favorites of the local and foreign media, the big companies and advertising agencies, and of the social salons in London, Sydney and Johannesburg. The prototypes of image that bear little relation to the Indian reality. This is not to say that they aren’t very talented cricketers. But that it is a closed highly profitable trade maintained by all the linkages of privilege, including those it chooses newly to recruit into its ranks. A cricket team representative of a democratic India and based strictly on competition for talent would look very different from any we have so far known.
In the Caribbean there are no possibilities of internalizing cricket, traditional or limited-overs, as a mass entertainment industry ( into a reggae, dance hall or carnival thing), and, greatly to our merit, whatever be the performance of the cricket teams, oligarchies of social class, race and physique are things of the past. So where do we go on cricket. Is it worth sinking into a depression over an outdated mythology– or just let it be??
Havelock
Hi All,
Just wanted to indicate that I am a Law student attending the Cave Hill Campus. The quoted $16, 800 per year for the average student is only correct if it includes the most minute of expenses. Tuition fee for LLB programme pert year is now approximately USD $4, 270 and boarding is roughly USD $4, 000 for the year.
I’ve already completed one year and I know for a fact that my expenses did not come close to the stated amount (due to the fact ofcourse that I never had that much money). In truth though, $11,000 (if that much) can sustain a student for the whole year at Cave Hill. This total is significantly lower than the one quoted in the Gleaner. In my estimation, that was just another poorly orchestrated tactic to make UWI’s new policy look more justifiable and student centered. In reality though, it is not.
Admittedly, subsidized students would pay considerably lesser than students at Cave Hill. This, however, does not alleviate this colonial approach to legal education in the Caribbean and serves to only deepen the trenchant criticisms leveled at this approach. With these very untenable decisions, the legal profession in Jamaica at least looks very interesting. And that’s just the LLB, the approach to legal certification should be equally interesting to watch.
I would like to bring a different perspective to this discussion. While it is unfortunate that the UWI, Mona has decided to ” go it alone” because of financial reasons, I believe that as an adaptive people, we can still achieve the objectives of regionalism if we truly wanted to.
The technology now exists (and our young people are most adept at it) at creating virtual communities online. What the university needs to do is to review its curriculum and teaching methods to develop programmes which can involve students across the three campuses of the Faculty of Law into “study communities” where students do joint projects or where one campus takes the lead in delivering specialized area of the law which is not accessible elsewhere. Once a rational programme is implemented taking into account available technology, students can find their way with appropriate supervision.
Secondly, special programmes can be mounted during the long (or August) vacation (I reject the relevance of ” summer” in the Caribbean) where students can travel to other campuses to participate in some of these specialized programmes. Additional credits may be granted to encourage this activity and shorten the learning time.
Thirdly, we must remember that we live in the era of CARICOM and the CSME where professionals may and in some cases( depending on their jurisdiction), must seek opportunities outside their home state. In this regard, the system of Caribbean legal education provides that persons with the Legal Education Certificate are qualified to be admitted to practise in those states which are signatories to the Treaty establishing the Council of Legal Education. Therefore, it is incumbent on the Faculty of Law to continue its programme of West Indian legal education. At the same time, the UWI must urge its students to actively appreciate the laws and legal systems of the other jurisdictions in the Caribbean as they may most likely have to practice in these jurisdictions within the course of their lives as is attested to by our most successful practitioners. This may also provide stimulous for their students to adopt and nurture a Caribbean perspective and engage in the programmes at the UWI geared towards this objective.
There are other ways in which the tyranny of finance can be overcome with creative thought, a resolute will and committed action.
i am just curious and asking a quetsion to current law students i have just completed high school with 5 cxc’s unfortunately and 3 capes in grade two i am intrested in law do you think i stand chance of acceptance to the faculty of law?