(Barbados Today) The University of the West Indies says it categorically rejects misinformed allegations in recent media coverage on the subject of the integrity of its examinations, as the institution transitioned to online evaluations in response to the exigencies of the pandemic.
The University says it is confident there is absolutely no evidentiary basis upon which the media reporting of increased or widespread cheating can be taken as factual.
Alarmed by the unfounded allegation, Vice-Chancellor of The UWI, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles stated, “These are highly offensive, inflammatory and unprofessional allegations because they are not rooted in any factual evidence. Once again, ad hoc and random references are unscientifically strung together to damage the hard-earned reputation of the University but cannot stand as sound reporting. To argue that the University is a cheater and has widespread student cheating is untrue, unethical, and is an unwarranted assault on The UWI and must be rejected.”
The University assures that its systems for teaching and examination continue to be robust. It is for this reason that the initial anomalies which were discovered and subjected to a detailed investigation in an internal report prepared by the Mona Campus to The UWI Academic Board, came to the fore.