The Accreditation Council of Trinidad and Tobago (ACTT) has re-registered The University of Trinidad and Tobago for a period of three years. UTT’s current registration will therefore expire in 2012.

On June 10, 2008, The University of Trinidad and Tobago was registered by ACTT for a period of one year. During the period April 20 - 23, 2009 a team of external evaluators appointed by ACTT visited UTT to review the University’s operations and to make a recommendation on the re-registration of UTT. The team was chaired by John Randall, former Executive Director of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education in the United Kingdom and included Professor Frederick Emshousen (a Consultant-Evaluator with the Higher Learning Commission, USA and a former director of the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET Inc.) and Carol Keller, former Dean of the School of Education, The University of the West Indies. This was the same team that evaluated UTT a year earlier. Mr Curtis Floyd, Manager, Registration of ACTT accompanied the team.

Members of the team were welcomed by the Chairman and President, Professor K.S. Julien and spent four (4) days meeting with management, faculty and staff of UTT. They also had the opportunity
to meet with undergraduate student representatives and graduate students. The team members were pleased with the many improvements that had taken place since their last visit and UTT’s response to recommendations made in the following areas that are aligned to ACTT’s criteria for registration:

I. Governance and Administration
II. Quality Management System
III. Resource Management
IV. Teaching-Learning Process
V. Review
VI. Continuous Improvement

They were particularly impressed with the progress made in the area of internal communications, work done by programme validation panels and review teams established over the past year. The team engaged in lively discussion with some of the panel members when they visited the Uni-Bio Plant at Pt. Lisas and the campus at the Eastern Caribbean Institute of Agriculture and Forestry (ECIAF).
Registration for three years is granted to institutions on the strength of their Quality Management System. In this regard, the team was satisfied that with the establishment of the Office of Quality Assurance and Institutional Advancement, UTT has the capacity to implement and sustain its quality improvement initiatives.

All members of UTT’s community celebrate this achievement and look forward to the accreditation of the University and its professional programmes by reputable national and international bodies.

By Dr. Ruby S. Alleyne
Vice President, Quality Assurance and Institutional Advancement (QA&IA)