The prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines says he’s concerned that the University of the West Indies may be losing its status as a Caribbean-wide institution. Dr Ralph Gonsalves, a former student of the University of the West Indies (UWI), has called for heads of government to be more involved in the institution to help prevent what he describes as a potential negative impact on regional integration. The prime minister says when he was studying at UWI in Jamaica, it was a time when students from across the Caribbean joined together in a way that promoted "regional camaraderie". "When I went to Mona, there were students on my block... from all the Caribbean countries and it was simply magnificent. Camaraderie "When I ran for presidency of the students union at the university in Jamaica in 1968, I garnered support from students from all territories... including Patrick Manning from Trinidad and Tobago, was very involved in my campaign. Now that gives for a certain kind of regional camaraderie." Dr Gonsalves says while the trend used to be for students to go away to study at one of the three UWI campus’ - Cave Hill in Barbados, St Augustin in Trinidad and Tobago or Mona in Jamaica - many young people now choose to study at home. He argues that this is could have a detrimental effect on regional integration and efforts should be made to reverse this trend something he believes could be achieved in two ways. Firstly by reviewing the UWI admission policy and secondly through greater involvement and interest in the institution by regional leaders. Proposals "You can have a policy which says, ten or 15% of students from Trinidad should go to Jamaica or Barbados and you split it up between them... and the same from Barbadians... we can sit down and work out something where we can retain among the student body a population which is truly regional. "I think the heads of government need at least once a year at the university council meeting to be there. The ministers of education and different kinds of ministers and other representatives can be in different sorts of bodies at the university." Dr Gonsalves says during his university days it was common for key political players to attend student council meetings. "We need to get back to that kind leadership position," he said. Reprinted from bbccaribbean.com