University of the West Indies

The university was founded in 1948, on the recommendation of the Asquith Commission through its sub-committee on the West Indies, chaired by Sir James Irvine. 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 Gibraltar Camp, used by evacuated Gibraltarians during the war. Seeking to address a need for medical care, the first faculty established a medical school. 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 a school established along University Row, at the Deep Water Harbour of Barbados in 1963, later seated at the present Cave Hill Campus in 1967. The Open Campus, University Centres, headed by a Resident Tutor, were established in each of the other 13 contributing territories thereafter. In 1950, Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, Queen Victoria's last surviving granddaughter, 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 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 in that year by Aston Zachariah Preston, a Jamaican, who died in office on 24 June 1986. 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 catalogues and exhibits some of the university's history. == University of the West Indies system ==

The UWI is the largest education provider in the Commonwealth Caribbean, with five constituent campuses: The following are the satellite campuses of the university system: • Mount Hope Campus in Mount Hope, Trinidad and Tobago (houses the Faculty of Medical Sciences of UWI St. Augustine) • St. Augustine South Campus at Debe in the Penal–Debe region, Trinidad and Tobago (extension campus of UWI St. Augustine) • Western Jamaica Campus in Montego Bay, Jamaica (extension campus of UWI Mona) • Centre for Hotel and Tourism Management in Nassau, Bahamas (extension campus of UWI Mona) • School of Clinical Medicine and Research in Nassau, Bahamas (extension of the medical programme at UWI St. Augustine) The other contributing countries are served by the Open Campus. Proposed additions and Joint Ventures There have been various proposals to add one or more campuses in other nations, including a campus at Hope, Grenada, Suzhou, China, the Johannesburg Institute for Global African Affairs, and collaboration with the University of Havana. In 2020 the University of the West Indies and Brock University founded the Canada-Caribbean Institute (CCI) to connect academic institutions, scholars, the business and public sectors, civil society, the cultural and diaspora communities. Since it has expanded to a growing cadre of educational entities. Articulation and franchised programmes In addition to programmes offered directly by one of the faculties of the university, the UWI extends accessibility to its programmes through articulation agreements and franchise arrangements with regional institutions. In many of these arrangements, students are able to study in their home countries for the first one or two years before going to a landed campus for the third (and fourth) year. In the case of articulation agreements, the local institution develops its own programme and the UWI agrees to recognise it as equivalent to the first year or two of a specific UWI programme. In the case of a franchise programme, the local institution delivers exactly the programme as offered by UWI. This is usually the first year or two, but can be the full bachelor's degree on occasion. == Global initiatives ==

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. 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. The UWI-SUNY Center for Leadership and Sustainable Development (CLSD) was established in 2017 on SUNY's Empire State campus in Manhattan. 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. In 2017, the University of Lagos (UNILAG) and the UWI established the UNILAG-UWI Institute of African and Diaspora Studies. The institute conducts research and offers a master's degree in African and Diaspora Studies. In 2019, Universidad de los Andes, commonly referred to as UNIANDES, and the UWI established the Strategic Alliance for Hemispheric Development. The Alliance will focus on the development of joint academic programmes and collaborative research projects. 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. 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). == Faculties ==

The University of the West Indies is a multi-campus, international university with several faculties and schools, some replicated on all four physical main campuses. The Open Campus does not have a faculty structure. The distribution of the faculties (called schools at Five Islands) is listed below. A new Faculty of Culture, Creative and Performing Arts was approved to be established on 1 August 2020 at the Cave Hill Campus. Faculty of Medical Sciences Prior to the establishment of a medical school in the Caribbean, most physicians were trained in the United Kingdom, with a smaller group trained in the United States. This was costly, not attuned to the specific needs of the communities the doctors would serve, and risked the newly minted physicians remaining in the countries they trained in. The Faculty of Medical Sciences was the first faculty to be established in the then University College. This was because of the pressing need for more (locally trained) doctors to treat conditions such as tuberculosis, yaws, tetanus, typhoid, infant malnutrition, and illnesses related to diarrhea. The establishment of medical schools in the colonies was replicated in the Gold Coast, Nigeria, Rhodesia, and Uganda. While improvements were being made to the training of physicians as anaesthesiologists, there continued to be a shortage of trained personnel in rural areas. In Jamaica, an initiative to train nurse anaesthetists started, with nurses first sent to the US and Cuba, followed by the establishment of the Jamaica School of Nurse Anaesthetists in 1981, which continues to this day () with the Ministry of Health. This is in addition to specialised additional training for nurses in intensive care, which began in 1969. Accreditation Starting in 2004, the medical programs in the Caribbean ceased to be accredited by the United Kingdom-based General Medical Council as the UK focused more on integration with Europe. The dental school at St. Augustine is probationary accredited while the dental school at Mona has accreditation with conditions. but the first year of the degree was available at each campus (and the University of Guyana in Guyana). This structure served, inter alia, to create a regional institution (the Faculty) and a regional identity within the profession. Incrementally, courses from the second and third year of the law programs were introduced at St. Augustine and Mona, allowing students to take more and more of the degree on those campuses rather than studying at Cave Hill. It is now possible to complete a law degree at each campus. The first law students, beginning studies in October 1970, consisted of 24 students in Jamaica, nineteen in Trinidad and Tobago, 35 in Barbados, and thirteen in Guyana. == UWI Press ==

Founded in 1992, the University of the West Indies Press is a department within the University of the West Indies system, located in Jamaica. Supported by a regionally assembled board of directors, UWI Press acts as the publishing arm of the main UWI campuses and their faculty and student body, including the Open Campus, where it additionally serves a network of 17 countries and territories. UWI Press focuses primarily on the traditional fields of Caribbean history, social sciences, political science, and cultural studies. == Rankings ==

In the 2021 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, UWI ranked in the 401–500th band. 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. == Chancellors of the University ==

• Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, 1948–71 • Sir Hugh Wooding, 1971–74 • Sir Allen Montgomery Lewis 1974–89 • Sir Shridath Ramphal 1989–2003 • Sir George Alleyne 2003–2017 • Robert Bermudez 2017– 2024 • Dr. The Most Hon. Dodridge Miller 2024- Present == Vice-Chancellors of the University ==

Principals • Sir Thomas Taylor 1947–52 • Walter Wyatt Grave 1953–58 • Sir William Arthur Lewis 1958–60 Vice-Chancellors • Sir William Arthur Lewis 1960–63 • Sir Philip Sherlock 1963–69 • Sir O Roy Marshall 1969–74 • Hon Aston Zachariah Preston 1974–86 • Pro-vice-chancellor L R B Robinson acting 1986–88 • Sir Alister McIntyre 1988–1998 • Rex Nettleford 1998–2004 • Eon Nigel Harris 2004–2015 • Sir Hilary Beckles 2015– == Notable faculty and administrators ==

• M. H. Ahmad: professor of biotechnology and director of the Biotechnology Centre at Mona campus between 1990 and 2011. • Helen Asemota: professor of biochemistry and biotechnology • Courtenay Bartholomew: the first lecturer and then Professor of Medicine at UWI St Augustine. • V. C. R. A. C. Crabbe: Professor of Legislative Drafting, formerly justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana, and first Electoral Commissioner of Ghana. • Leith Dunn Head of the Mona Unit • Albert K Fiadjoe: Distinguished emeritus professor of public law. • Elsa Goveia: first female professor of UCWI and noted pioneer in West Indian historiography. • François Jackman: Ambassador to the UN and China, founded Chinese study institute at Barbados campus • Bridget Jones (1935–2000): pioneering Literature and language professor from 1964 to 1982, who developed curricula to include Afro-, Anglo- and Franco-Caribbean writers in university syllabai at UWI and in Britain and Ireland. • Dorothy King: head of the Microbiology Department of the medical faculty from 1973 to 2001. • 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. • 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. • George Maxwell Richards: Pro Vice Chancellor and Principal of the St. Augustine campus. • Maureen Warner-Lewis: Professor Emerita of African-Caribbean Language and Orature; Gold Musgrave Medal winner in 2009. • Manley Elisha West: Professor of Pharmacology, recipient of the Jamaican Order of Merit, co-inventor of Canasol. • Salikoko Mufwene: Lecturer of Linguistics of the Mona campus between 1980 and 1981. == Notable alumni ==

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, 72 Rhodes Scholars, three Gates Cambridge Scholarship winners, one Emmy award winner, 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: • Irfaan Ali, president of Guyana • Vance Amory, former premier of Nevis • Kenny Anthony, former prime minister of St. Lucia • Owen Arthur, former prime minister of Barbados • Dean Barrow, former prime minister of Belize • Heather Doram, activist and educator who designed Antigua and Barbuda's national costume • 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 • Timothy Harris, prime minister of St. Kitts & Nevis • 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 • Philip J. Pierre, prime minister of Saint Lucia • Keith Rowley, 7th 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 • Tillman Thomas, former prime minister of Grenada • David Thompson, former prime minister of Barbados Graduates in other fields: • Dame Anita Allen, president of the Court of Appeal of The Bahamas • Faris Al-Rawi, former attorney general of Trinidad and Tobago • Pamela Coke-Hamilton Director of International Trade for UNCTAD • Merceline Dahl-Regis, Bahamian physician, former Chief Medical Officer of the Bahamas • Edwidge Danticat, Haitian poet and writer • Tracy Davidson-Celestine, former political leader of the Tobago Council of the People's National Movement and Trinidad and Tobago Ambassador to Costa Rica • Kwame Dawes, Ghanaian poet and critic, and Professor of English at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln • Erna Brodber, Jamaican writer, sociologist and social activist • Kevin Fenton, President of the United Kingdom Faculty of Public Health • Dennis Francis, Trinidad and Tobago diplomat, President of the United Nations General Assembly • Donald J. Harris, emeritus professor of Stanford University • Ishion Hutchinson, Award-winning poet and professor • Renatha Francis, Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida • Karen E. Nelson, Jamaican-American microbiologist • Merle Collins, Grenadian poet • Mercedes Richards, Jamaican astrophysics and astronomy professor • Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Honorary Fellow • Adam Stewart (business executive), Honorary Graduate • Stephen Ames, Professional Golfer, Recipient of the Uwi Vice Chancellor's Award • Fae Ellington, Jamaican media personality and lecturer • Wendy Fitzwilliam, Miss Universe 1998 • Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Olympic Gold Medallist sprinter • Marcia Gilbert-Roberts, Jamaican bureaucrat and diplomat who served as Jamaican Ambassador to several European countries including Germany, Spain and France • Burton P. C. Hall, judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and former Chief Justice of The Bahamas • Lisa Hanna, Jamaican Miss World 1993 • Guy Harvey, Jamaican wildlife artist • Marlon James, Jamaican-born winner of the 2015 Man Booker Prize • Joshua Johnson, Trinidadian chess player • Jerelle Joseph, academic and scientist • Giselle Laronde, Trinidadian Miss World 1986 • Joan Latchman, director of the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Centre • Ianthea Leigertwood-Octave, former judge of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court • Charles W. Mills, Jamaican philosopher • Dolliver Nelson, member of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea • Hansle Parchment, Jamaican Olympic Gold Medallist • Kris Rampersad, Trinidad and Tobago journalist, author and cultural advocate • Shorna-Kay Richards, Jamaican diplomat • Nafesha Richardson, women rights' advocate and climate activist from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines • Patrick Lipton Robinson, Jamaican 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 • Joy Spence, Jamaican master blender • Antoinette Tidjani Alou, Jamaican-Nigerien lecturer in Comparative Literature at Abdou Moumouni University • Shafimana Ueitele, Namibian lawyer • M. NourbeSe Philip, Canadian poet • Derek Walcott, Saint Lucian recipient of the 1992 Nobel Prize for Literature • Francis Belle, Barbadian lawyer and judge == See also ==