PM Roosevelt Skerrit has signed off on the University of the West Indies 75th anniversary celebrations. He gave the approval for the anniversary celebrations to proceed on January 7 to Dr. Kimone Joseph, head of the UWI Open Campus. The anniversary will hold under the theme “UWI at 75: Rooted, Ready, Rising.”
According to UWI Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Hillary Beckles, and UWI Chancellor Robert Bermudez, the 75th anniversary celebrations will feature award ceremonies, academic seminars, sports and cultural events, research presentations, benefit galas, scholarships, as well as tree planting events in a year-long celebration that started last weekend.
According to university officials, the UWI was established on January 7, 1943 by several regional governments in the Caribbean. The first site of the university was in Mona, St. Andrews; and by 1944, 33 students enrolled to study medicine at the campus. The UWI is partly funded by 17 Caribbean governments and is ranked in the top 1.5% universities in the world.
Bermudez said the university has graduated more than 250,000 students across various disciplines and these have progressed to become leading figures in various fields. “Our academics have produced a significant body of sterling research that has informed policy at the national and regional levels,” he said. “I believe the UWI has lived up to its promise. However, much more can be done, and must be done.”
Professor Beckles stated that the UWI is a successful “global university [that is] rooted vin Caribbean civilization” and is worthy to be celebrated by current and decades-old graduates. Dr. Joseph also noted that the continental university is an indigenous institution that transcends time, age, and space with a lot of cultural and academic impacts within and outside the Caribbean region.
“The UWI is rooted in the Caribbean…and we prepare people for careers, lives and research from all parts of the world,” she said. “Our people move to all parts of the world to work after attending the UWI; we do have that primary focus and what it means to be a Caribbean person accessing world-class education. We continue to focus on access and providing educational opportunities for our people where they are and that forms part of our readiness.”
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