THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES ST. AUGUSTINE, TRINIDAD & TOBAGO, WEST INDIES

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1 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES ST. AUGUSTINE, TRINIDAD & TOBAGO, WEST INDIES OFFICE OF THE CAMPUS PRINCIPAL Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Clement Sankat, BSc (UWI), MSc (UWI), PhD (Guelph), FIAgrE, CEng, FAPETT Welcome Remarks by the Campus Principal 4 th Cohort of Incoming Students UWI/FIFA/CIES Post Graduate Diploma in Sports Management Institute of Critical Thinking, Lecture Room 1, UWI St. Augustine Thursday 5 th September, :00 am Salutations Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Mr. Errol Simms Acting Head of the Department of Management Studies, Dr. Acolla Lewis- Cameron Representatives from FIFA and from the International Centre for Sports Studies Our special guest this morning, Professor Charles Korr Coordinator of the Postgraduate Programmes in Sports Management, UWI St. Augustine Campus, Ms. Charisse Broome Other Colleagues of the UWI St. Augustine Campus Students ****** 1

2 Good morning! It gives me great pleasure to be here to officially welcome all of you, the 4 th cohort of students within the UWI/FIFA/CIES Postgraduate Diploma in Sports Management to the St. Augustine Campus of The University of the West Indies! Let me begin by thanking all of you, for choosing the UWI St. Augustine Campus. We are delighted that you have chosen to pursue your postgraduate education with us. In welcoming you into the UWI, I would like to share with you a few key thoughts. The first of which, is that you see yourselves as sport management ambassadors of our country and region. I say this because; this Postgraduate Diploma in Sports Management is the first of its kind in the region to be offered at the tertiary level! In the subsequent years therefore, you are the ones that will be at the helm of leadership in sport, whether as part of an organization or as an entrepreneur. To this end, I encourage all of you to put the knowledge and skills you will gain from this programme to shape the sporting industry of Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean region. 2

3 This brings me to my second point, and that is, because you are our future leaders in sports management you must place a great emphasis on building our country and region through sport. In fact, for decades sport has served to build societies around the world. The President of FIFA, Dr. Joseph Blatter when he visited our Campus in September 2010, gave a distinguished lecture in commemoration of our Campus 50 th anniversary and emphasized the role of sports as a catalyst for promoting national development. You, our future sport professionals must therefore view your work in the sport industry as an avenue for national and regional development. You must go beyond seeing sport just as a vehicle for recreation and leisure. Although this may be important, you must also see sport as a key contributor to economic development. I have recently learnt that sports-tourism has become one of the niche markets in the tourism industry, so much so, that it is described as the fastest growing sector in the global travel and tourism industry. You, our sporting ambassadors must help our region seize this unique value proposition. We must encourage the world to come to our shores for major sporting activities. And this can, and in fact, has been done before in the Caribbean with major sporting events such as the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2007, the FIFA Under 17 Women s World Cup in 2010 and of course the recently concluded Caribbean Premier League T20 cricket tournament. But we need more of this. I am therefore encouraging each 3

4 and every one of you from early to consider yourselves not only as sporting ambassadors, but as pioneers in this new and evolving discipline of sport management. You must endeavour to develop the entrepreneurial side of sport! The benefits that can accrue to our professionals, our businesses, our enterprises, our entrepreneurs, and by extension our national and regional economy are indeed significant. And finally, I note that this programme will now be delivered in a blended format. To this end, you will not only have face to face sessions, but you will also have the opportunity to learn via online strategies. This programme therefore affords you a greater degree of flexibility as you utilize technology to communicate even beyond the walls of the classroom. I encourage you all, particularly those of you who may have other commitments to take advantage of this modern learning opportunity. Remain focused, dedicated and ensure that you graduate. The sporting industry of our country and region is depending on you all. And before I close, I wish to extend heartfelt thanks to the representatives of FIFA and CIES without whose support, this programme, in sport management would not be possible. I also extend thanks to my own colleagues including the 4

5 Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Mr. Errol Simms, the Head of the Department of Management Studies, Professor Surendra Arjoon (and in his absence, Dr. Acolla Lewis-Cameron) and the coordinator of our postgraduate programmes in Sports Management, Ms. Charisse Broome for the hard work they have been doing to ensure that our sporting programmes have a prominent place at UWI St. Augustine Campus, in Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean region. Colleagues keep up the excellent work! With those few words, as Principal of the St. Augustine Campus of The University of the West Indies, I once again officially welcome all of our new students to the UWI St. Augustine Campus. Regretfully, I must leave shortly as I am hosting the Media Launch of our Research Expo 2013 this morning at my office. Nonetheless, I take this opportunity to extend best wishes to all of you for a successful programme! I thank you. 5