University of the West Indies
The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies,[2][3] 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, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint 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.
This article is about the University of the West Indies system and its flagship constituent unit in Mona, Jamaica. For other uses, see University of the West Indies (disambiguation).Motto
Latin: Oriens Ex Occidente Lux
"A Light Rising From The West"
Regional university, public, autonomous
1948
Robert Bermudez
1,200
near 50,000 (across 5 campuses)[1]
Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU)
Caribbean Community
The Pelican
The UWI campus in Mona, Jamaica, serves as the headquarters of the University Of The West Indies. Besides UWI Mona,[4] the University has four major university centres: UWI Cave Hill (Barbados), UWI St. Augustine (Trinidad and Tobago), UWI Five Islands (Antigua and Barbuda), and the regional UWI Open Campus in the UWI-funding Caribbean nations.
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.[5] The university was originally instituted as an independent external college of the University of London.[6]
Global initiatives[edit]
The University of the West Indies has initiated several international partnerships. In 2016, UWI and the Global Institute for Software Technology (GIST) established the UWI-China Institute for Information Technology.[20] Starting in the summer of 2018, students in the programme on the Cave Hill and Mona campuses will travel to Suzhou, China for two years to study software engineering and Mandarin.[21]
The UWI-SUNY Center for Leadership and Sustainable Development (CLSD) was established in 2017 on SUNY's Empire State campus in Manhattan.[20][22]
The centre is designed to assist the Commonwealth Caribbean in meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In addition to research and advocacy, plans were underway as of 2019 to offer a joint master's degree in sustainability and leadership.[23]
In 2017, the University of Lagos (UNILAG) and the UWI established the UNILAG-UWI Institute of African and Diaspora Studies.[20][24] The institute conducts research and offers a master's degree in African and Diaspora Studies.[23]
Also in 2017, UWI and the University of Johannesburg (UJ) signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) to establish the Institute for Global Africa Affairs.[23] The institute was launched in 2018 and will offer a joint master's degree in Global African Studies.[25]
In 2020, UWI and the University of Havana inked an agreement to jointly establish the Institute for the Sustainable Development of the Caribbean. UWI Mona will lead the initiative from the UWI side, with the deans of the Faculty of Science and Technology and the Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences taking the lead.[26]
In 2021 the Inter-American Development Bank decided to become a stakeholder of UWI under Cuban-American President Mauricio Claver-Carone as a public-private partnerships, [PPP).[1]
UWI Press[edit]
Founded in 1992, the University of the West Indies Press is a department within The University of the West Indies system located in Jamaica.[45] Supported by a regionally assembled board or directors, UWI Press acts as the overall publishing arm of the main UWI campuses, and its faculty and student body of the Open Campus where it additionally serves the diverse network of 17 countries and territories. As an entity that caters to a readership around the world, UWI Press maintains a main commitment to traditional fields of: Caribbean history, social sciences, political science and cultural studies.
Rankings[edit]
In the 2021 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, UWI ranked in the 401-500th band.[46] and in 2023, ranked in the top 150 best universities in the world for best research impact. The 2021-2022 Times Higher Education ranking ranked UWI in the top 20 when compared with Latin American University rankings, and ranked UWI first in the Caribbean. In 2020, UWI ranked among the top 100 Golden Age University Rankings and Impact Rankings. UWI is the only Caribbean university to make these prestigious lists.[47]
Principals
Vice-Chancellors
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 Nobel Laureates,[64][65] 72 Rhodes Scholars, three Gates Cambridge Scholarship winners, one Emmy award winner,[66] one Man Booker Prize winner, one American Book Award winner, multiple Commonwealth Short Story Prize winners, 18 current or former Caribbean Heads of Government, two Olympic gold medallists, among other award winners. The university's cricket team previously participated in West Indian domestic cricket, but now participates as part of a Combined Campuses and Colleges team.
UWI graduates who are, or have been, heads of government:
Graduates in other fields: