SINCE its inception in 1948, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a fully-fledged, regional University with over 50,000 students. Today, The UWI is the largest, most longstanding higher education provider in the Commonwealth Caribbean, with three physical campuses in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and an Open Campus.
The UWI serves 17 English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, The British Virgin Islands, The Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turks and Caicos. The UWI’s faculty and students come from more than 40 countries and The University has collaborative links with 160 universities globally. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food and Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities and Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology and Social Sciences.
Knowledge Creation, Research and Innovation
As the number one Caribbean University, The UWI is internationally-recognised as a centre of excellence in research, knowledge creation and innovation, on matters related to the Caribbean and Small Island States. The UWI’s research capacity is an important asset and its research agenda addresses priority areas identified by CARICOM , taking into account such over-arching areas of concern to the region as environmental issues, health and wellness, gender equity and the critical importance of innovation.
Most recently, The UWI has responded with alacrity to the growing threat that the Zika virus poses to the Caribbean region, by launching a regional Zika virus Task Force to leverage the University’s expertise and coordinate efforts with regional governments, health ministries and other agencies to combat the virus.
Websites: www.uwi.edu
The Open Campus: Bringing The UWI To The Region and Beyond
The UWI’s fourth and newest campus, the Open Campus was formally launched in June 2008 in Antigua and Barbuda. The Open Campus is an amalgamation of the previous Office of the Board for Non-Campus Countries and Distance Education (BNCCDE), the School of Continuing Studies (SCS), The UWI Distance Education Centre (UWIDEC), and the Tertiary Level Institutions Unit (TLIU) – all of which are direct descendants of the Department of Extra-Mural Studies. The UWI Open Campus offers multi-mode teaching and learning services through virtual and physical site locations across the Caribbean region. There are currently over 40 site locations of the Open campus in the region, serving 17 countries in the English-speaking Caribbean.
Based on the guiding principle that the high-quality university education, research and services available at The UWI should be open and available to all people who wish to reach their full potential. The Open Campus adopts quality teaching and learning experiences, innovative pedagogic design, relevant research and community partnerships, to deliver face-to-face, blended and online learning. As noted by Principal (Ag.) Dr Luz Longsworth, “the objective is to use technology to democratize higher education, pulling all of The UWI together and enabling the wealth of its knowledge to get out to communities in and beyond the Caribbean region.”
There are currently 6000 students pursuing studies online with the Open Campus, with another 16, 000 pursuing studies via a variety of alternative modes of delivery. A total of 650 students graduatedfrom Open Campus online programmes in 2015.
Websites: www.open.uwi.edu
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