UWI Consulting Inc is now operational. Seen here in discussion are (from left) new chief executive officer, Carleen Gardner; principal of the Cave Hill campus, Professor Hilary Beckles; and UWI Vice-Chancellor Professor E. Nigel Harris during the launch of the company at the Hilton Barbados on March 5. - Contributed

Harris chairman, Carleen Gardner CEO

The University of the West Indies (UWI) has launched its new consultancy, a subsidiary company whose job is to package and market the research and expertise resident across its campuses.

The new UWI Consulting Inc, established with US$150,000 of grant funding from the Caribbean Development Bank, will provide both advisory and technical support to a targeted market of largely, but not exclusively, regional businesses and governments.

It will offer services in areas such as project implementation, governance, policy analysis and organisational management, said a release issued by the vice-chancellor's publicists.

The company is to be based in Castries, St Lucia, but will have offices at UWI's three main campuses: Mona in Jamaica; St Augustine, Trinidad; and Cave Hill, Barbados.

"We want to be the first point of call for Caribbean businesses, governments and agencies that need in-depth expertise and advice on management, planningand development issues," said UWI Vice-Chancellor E. Nigel Harris at the launch in Barbados last Wednesday.

Harris is chairman of UWI Consulting; its chief executive officer is Carleen Gardner, a Jamaican, who was appointed more than a year ago on an initial three-year contract.

Though UWI has been criticised for being too oriented on colonialism and slavery in its research, Harris believes UWI has leverage in its reputation and achievements, saying the university has the largest and most significant concentration of advanced knowledge and technical expertise in the region.

"UWI has produced most of the region's prime ministers, has helped to shape the politics, culture and identity of the Caribbean, and boasts thousands of graduates who are influential in every walk of life throughout the region and the diaspora," he said.

"No other organisation knows the Caribbean so well, or is so well-connected, or has done so much to influence its development."

The consultancy was launched within the 2007/08 timeline set in UWI's five-year strategic plan for the company to become operational.

The company is one of the vehicles UWI intends to use to transform its image from an institution concerned only with study, to one whose research and development can create commercial value for economies.

business@gleanerjm.com

Board of UWI Consulting

Professor E. Nigel Harris, chair, UWI vice-chancellor

Gregory Shirley, retired partner, KPMG Caribbean

Professor Wayne Hunte, pro vice-chancellor, Research

Professor Hilary Beckles, pro vice-chancellor and principal, UWI Cave Hill

Professor Hazel Simmons-McDonald, pro vice- chancellor and principal, Open Campus, UWI

Professor Gordon Shirley, pro vice-chancellor and principal, UWI, Mona

Professor Clement Sankat, pro vice-chancellor and principal, UWI, St Augustine

Winston Bayley, director of finance and bursar, UWI

Margaret Young, CEO, Millsquare Group of Consultants, New Rochelle, NY

Dodridge Miller, Sagicor, Barbados.