University of the West Indies

The University of the West Indies

Motto	Oriens Ex Occidente Lux (Latin)
Motto in English	A Light Rising From The West
Type	Regional university, Public, Autonomous
Established	1948
Chancellor	Mr. Robert Bermudez
Vice-Chancellor	Sir Hilary Beckles
Academic staff	1,200
Students	36,000 (across 4 campuses)
Campus	Mona, Jamaica Saint Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago Cave Hill, Barbados Open Campus
Affiliations	Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) Caribbean Community
Mascot	The Pelican
Website	www.uwi.edu UWI Cave Hill UWI St. Augustine UWI Mona UWI Open Campus

St Augustine UWI Campus

The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies,^[1] is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turks and Caicos Islands. Each country is either a member of the Commonwealth of Nations or a British Overseas Territory. The aim of the university is to help "unlock the potential for economic and cultural growth" in the West Indies, thus allowing improved regional autonomy.^[2] The University was originally instituted as an independent external college of the University of London.^[3]

The University has produced students who have excelled in a number of disciplines such as the arts and sciences, business, politics, and sports. Notable alumni and faculty include three UWI (Mona) Nobel Laureates, 72 Rhodes Scholars, 3 Gates Cambridge Scholarship winners, 18 current or former Caribbean Heads of Government, and an Olympic medallist. The university's cricket team previously participated in West Indian domestic cricket, but now participates as part of a Combined Campuses and Colleges team.

History

Main Library, Mona Campus, Jamaica

The university was founded in 1948, on the recommendation of the Asquith Commission^[4] through its sub-committee on the West Indies chaired by Sir James Irvine.^[5] The Asquith Commission had been established in 1943 to review the provision of higher education in the British colonies. Initially in a special relationship with the University of London, the then University College of the West Indies (UCWI) was seated at Mona, about five miles from Kingston, Jamaica. The university was based at the Gibraltar Camp used by evacuated Gibraltarians during the war.^[6][7]

Seeking to address a need for medical care the first faculty established was a medical school.^[8] The foundation stone for a hospital was added in 1949 and the University College Hospital of the West Indies opened in 1953. On January 18, 1953, Sir Winston Churchill visited the hospital on January 18, 1953 and unveiled a plaque in recognition of the contribution made by the government of the United Kingdom to the hospital.^[8] The hospital was renamed the University Hospital of the West Indies in 1967 when the University gained full university status.^[8] The hospital offers patient care, the hospital also facilitates research and teaching along with the Medical Services department of the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies.^[9]

The University College achieved independent university status in 1962. The St Augustine Campus in Trinidad, formerly the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture (ICTA), was established in 1960, followed by the Cave Hill Campus in Barbados in 1963. Before the establishment of the Open Campus, University Centres, headed by a Resident Tutor, were established in each of the other thirteen contributing territories.

In 1950, HRH Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, the last surviving granddaughter of Queen Victoria, became the first Chancellor of the University College of the West Indies.

Sir William Arthur Lewis was the first Vice-Chancellor under the UWI’s independent Charter. A native of St Lucia, he served as the first West Indian Principal of the UCWI from 1958 to 1960 and as Vice-Chancellor from 1960 to 1963. He was succeeded by Sir Philip Sherlock (a Jamaican and one of the UWI’s founding fathers) who served as Vice-Chancellor from 1963 to 1969. Sir Roy Marshall, a Barbadian, was the next Vice-Chancellor, serving from 1969 to 1974. He was succeeded by Dr Aston Zachariah Preston, a Jamaican, who died in office on 24 June 1986, having served from 1974. The fifth Vice-Chancellor was Sir Alister McIntyre, who served from 1988 to 1998, followed by alumnus and Professor Emeritus Rex Nettleford who served from 1998 to 2004. The current Vice-Chancellor is Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, who succeeded Professor E. Nigel Harris in May 2015.

The University of the West Indies Museum catalogs and exhibits some of the university's history.

Campuses

The University consists of three physical campuses: The University of the West Indies, Mona campus at Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago, and Cave Hill in Barbados. There is also a virtual, online-based, university through the University's Open Campus. The Open Campus is an amalgamation of the University's previous Office of the Board for Non-Campus Countries & Distance Education (BNNCDE), the School of Continuing Studies (SCS), the UWI Distance Education Centre (UWIDEC), and the Tertiary Level Institutions Unit (TLIU).^[10] There are satellite campuses in Mount Hope, Trinidad and Tobago, and Montego Bay, Jamaica, and a Centre for Hotel and Tourism Management in Nassau, Bahamas. The other contributing countries are served by the Open Campus.^[11]

The Open Campus has a physical presence and heads of sites in each of 18 countries. There are international programmes and partnerships for universities in the USA, Canada, China, Japan, United Kingdom, Brazil and Mexico such as the University of Toronto, McGill University, Osaka Gakuin University, China University of Political Science and Law, Shanghai University, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Emory University, University of Massachusetts, the University of Guelph, Yale University, King's College London, St Andrews University, Northeastern University, Stockholm University, University of California, Sophia University, University of Illinois, Saïd Business School and Universidad de Quintana Roo.

Sports

The 3Ws Oval (entrance pictured), named after Sir Frank Worrell, Sir Clyde Walcott, and Sir Everton Weekes, is located on the university's campus in Cave Hill, Barbados, and often hosts university matches

The University of the West Indies cricket team competes for the school. The 3Ws Oval is a stadium at the Cave Hill campus.

Chancellors of the University

• Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, 1948–71 ^[12]
• Sir Hugh Wooding, 1971–74 ^[12]
• Sir Allen Montgomery Lewis 1974–89 ^[12]
• Sir Shridath Ramphal 1989–2003 ^[12]
• Sir George Alleyne 2003–2017 ^[12]
• Robert Bermudez 2017–

Vice-chancellors of the University

Principals

• Sir Thomas Taylor 1947–52 ^[12]
• Walter Wyatt Grave 1953–58 ^[12]
• Sir William Arthur Lewis 1958–60 ^[12]

Vice-Chancellors

• Sir William Arthur Lewis 1960–63 ^[12]
• Sir Philip Sherlock 1963–69 ^[12]
• Sir O Roy Marshall 1969–74 ^[12]
• Hon Dr Aston Zachariah Preston 1974–86 ^[12]
• Pro-vice-chancellor L R B Robinson acting 1986–88 ^[12]
• Sir Alister McIntyre 1988–1998 ^[12]
• Rex Nettleford 1998–2004
• Eon Nigel Harris 2004–2015
• Hilary Beckles 2015–

Notable faculty and administrators

• Daniel Coore: Professor in Computer Science at UWI Mona Campus^[13]
• Elsa Goveia: first female professor of UCWI and noted pioneer in West Indian historiography^[14][15]
• Patrick Hosein: Professor in Computer Science at UWI St Augustine Campus^[16]
• Bridget Jones (1935-2000) pioneering Literature and language professor from 1964-1982, who developed curricula to include Afro-, Anglo- and Franco-Caribbean writers in university syllabai at UWI and in Britain and Ireland.^[17]
• Dorothy King, CD head of the Microbiology Department of the medical faculty from 1973-2001.^[18]
• St. Clair King: Professor Emeritus in Computer and Electrical Engineering at UWI St. Augustine^[19]
• Elsa Leo-Rhynie: Principal of the Mona campus.
• William Arthur Lewis: economist, lecturer, author and joint winner of Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics of 1979.
• Albert Belville Lockhart: Consultant and Ophthalmologist, Recipient of the Jamaican Order of Merit, co-inventor of Canasol^[20]
• Kim Mallalieu: Senior Lecturer in Computer and Electrical Engineering at UWI ST Augustine^[21][22]
• Sam Mc Daniel:- B.Sc. UWI Mona Jamaica, M.A. (Biostatistics), Harvard University, Ph.D, Harvard University^[23]
• Evelyn O'Callaghan: Professor of West Indian literature, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Education
• Orlando Patterson: John Cowles Professor of Sociology at Harvard University^[24]
• Manley Elisha West: Professor of Pharmacology, recipient of the Jamaican Order of Merit, co-inventor of Canasol^[20]

Notable alumni

Sir Derek Walcott studied at the University of the West Indies

UWI graduates who are, or have been, heads of government:

• Kenny Anthony, former prime minister of St. Lucia
• Owen Arthur, former prime minister of Barbados
• Dean Barrow, prime minister of Belize
• Denzil Douglas, former prime minister of St. Kitts & Nevis
• Rufus Ewing, premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands
• Bruce Golding, former prime minister of Jamaica
• Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines
• David A. Granger, president of Guyana
• Andrew Holness, prime minister of Jamaica
• Patrick Manning, former prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago
• Hubert Minnis, prime minister of The Bahamas
• Keith Mitchell, prime minister of Grenada
• Joseph Walcott Parry, former premier of Nevis
• P. J. Patterson, former prime minister of Jamaica
• Kamla Persad-Bissessar, first female prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago
• Keith Rowley: prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago
• Lloyd Erskine Sandiford, former prime minister of Barbados
• Kennedy A. Simmonds, former prime minister of St. Kitts & Nevis
• Orlando Smith, chief minister of the British Virgin Islands
• Freundel Stuart, former prime minister of Barbados
• David Thompson, former prime minister of Barbados

Graduates in other fields:

• Sharon Aarons, Australian soil scientist
• Dame Anita Allen, president of the Court of Appeal of The Bahamas
• Faris Al-Rawi, Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago
• Edwidge Danticat, Haitian poet and writer
• Fae Ellington, Jamaican media personality and lecturer
• Burton P. C. Hall, judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and former Chief Justice of The Bahamas
• Marlon James, Jamaican-born winner of the 2015 Man Booker Prize for Fiction
• Dolliver Nelson, member of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
• Kris Rampersad, journalist, author, cultural advocate
• Patrick Lipton Robinson, judge of the International Court of Justice
• Walter Rodney, Guyanese historian and political activist
• Richard Sealy, Barbadian Tourism Minister
• Olive Senior, Jamaican novelist and writer
• Shafimana Ueitele, Namibian lawyer
• Derek Walcott, Nobel Prize for Literature

See also

• Agence universitaire de la Francophonie
• Association of Commonwealth Universities
• University of the West Indies Museum
• University of Guyana
• University of Trinidad and Tobago
• University of Technology, Jamaica
• University of the Bahamas
• University of the French West Indies
• University of French Guiana
• Savacou, a sculpture on the Mona site

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to University of the West Indies.

• Official website