UTech, Jamaica 2015-16 Annual Report

University of Technology, Jamaica ANNUAL REPORT 2015-2016 Page 8 President’s Overview cont’d We have also had to face the reality that the students themselves undergo major financial challenges. At the close of the 2015/16 fiscal year, the total value of the Student Financial Support Services provided through the Department of Student Financing was over $1.6 Billion Dollars ($1,602,038,337.29) in the form of scholarships, sponsorship and welfare support services. In sports our athletes shined at the 2015 World Championship in Beijing, China Jamaica ended the Championships with twelve medals: seven gold, two silver and three bronze medals. Of this tally, four gold, one silver and two bronze medals were won by UTech, Jamaica athletes. In the area of community service and outreach, the Fi Wi Jamaica Project, funded by USAID, significantly contributed to the university’s reach and mission to serve the most vulnerable in communities in close proximity and further islandwide. The project, executed by the Division of Community Service and Development, is a 3-year national social intervention project to expand the protection and promotion of human rights of targeted, socially excluded and vulnerable members of the Jamaican population. This project is the successor of the earlier UTech Cares Project, a campus-wide human rights initiative. UTech, Jamaica remains conscious of its responsibility to its students, to the wider community and to future generations of Jamaicans. During the period, the University has tried to maintain its balance, pressing ahead in spite of constraints and continuing to foster research, teaching and outreach in keeping with its tradition of excellence.