In November of last year, 7News told you about Dr. Cary Frazer's sudden decision to make an exit from the University of Belize and from his post as President of the institution.
It involved a letter he sent to the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the Minister of Education where he complained about bureaucratic pressures and breakdown between his office and the Board of Trustees. According to Frazer, the Board's micromanagement of the university, and lack of financial support from the Government made it difficult for him to develop the institution to the level he had initially planned.
So, his departure will officially take place next month, and at this time, there are moves afoot to get Economist and former Central Bank Governor Allan Slusher installed as a temporary president. We'll tell you all about that. But first, when we got an opportunity to the speak with Harrison Pilgrim, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, this afternoon, and we asked him about the process they will go through to identify who will be Frazer's permanent replacement.
For an institution as important as the Nation's University, which has been struggling with stability at the helm, Pilgrim told us that they've worked out plan get a suitable candidate:
Harrison Pilgrim - President, Board of Trustees, UB
"We've already begun to put in place what we consider to be a very robust search team, which will comprise of persons from the Board of Trustees of the University, Business persons within Belize, we intend and hope to have onboard a senior person from the University of the West Indies, as well as a senior person from out of the partnership of the COBEC institutions in North America. We're going to do the search using an international search firm, and then, when short listed, the candidates will be interviewed by the locally composed panel."
Daniel Ortiz
"Has anyone showed any interest at this time?"
Harrison Pilgrim
"Well, the process has not at yet reached the point of advertisement because what we are doing at this time is ensuring that we have created the kind of robust profile, and then the search firm will have the tools necessary to search for someone who fits that profile."
Daniel Ortiz
"And what kind of timeline are we looking at in terms of looking at potential candidates."
Harrison Pilgrim
"That's always a difficult question because we don't have any idea of who will apply, and how soon they'll be applying. We have gotten a number of interesting inquiries even the search began, and we feel that there's going to be a number of Belizeans, and perhaps non-Belizeans as well, who would be qualified, and who may fit the profile to act as the President, and to carry the University to another level."
But, when that permanent replacement is installed, will he or she have the same difficulties that Frazer complained about? That's what we asked Pilgrim, and here's how he responded:
Daniel Ortiz
"When this person is installed, as the President - we know that Mr. Frazer, he started out with a brilliant relationship between the Ministry of Education and the Board, and then all of a sudden, it seemed to deteriorate. So, will this new candidate be sort of protected, so that what he or she brings to the table won't be influenced or impeded by the political directorate?"
Harrison Pilgrim
"First of all, I'd like to on record that I do not think that Dr. Frazer was impeded by any political influence at all, at any stage. Certainly, the Board of Trustees, of which I was a part, when he was appointed, was fully supportive of the programs that he wanted to implement. It was also very supportive of having the New President - Dr. Frazer - at that time, build out on the strategic objectives of the University. Objectives which had been developed over a number of years by most of the social partners involved in the University. To, answer your question, I feel if we - if the person who comes on fits the profile - I keep talking about the profile, because I think that one of the things that we are the search firm will do is to have the candidates undergo a psychometric - or various psychometric evaluations - which will help us to understand what make that person tick or not tick, what areas of support we need to give to ensure that that person can carry out the job properly, because we do not expect that anyone who is selected is going to be perfect. There are going to be some weak areas, and if we understand the weak areas, then the Board of Trustees will probably be in a better position, as well as the Ministry of Education to lend the support that any new leadership takes on at the University."
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