University of the West Indies

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**University of the West Indies**

Motto	Oriens Ex Occidente Lux Light rising from the West
Established	1948
Type	Public
Vice-Chancellor	Prof. E. Nigel Harris
Students	36,417
Location	Mona, Jamaica Saint Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago, Cave Hill, Barbados
Website	www.uwi.edu

The University of the West Indies, also known as UWI, is an autonomous regional institution supported by and serving 16 English speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean : Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turks and Caicos. All of these countries are members of the Commonwealth of Nations. The aim of the university is to help "unlock the potential for economic and cultural growth" in the West Indies, thus allowing for improved regional autonomy.

The university consists of three major campuses at Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago, and Cave Hill in Barbados, together with a satellite campus in Mount Hope, Trinidad and Tobago and a Centre for Hotel and Tourism Management in Nassau, Bahamas. Resident tutors are also present in non-campus contributing territories, together with branches of the UWI School of Continuing Studies.

[edit] History and development

UWI began as a University College in special relationship with the University of London in 1948. The first campus was at Mona, Jamaica and became the first institution of higher learning in the country. The St. Augustine campus entered the system in 1960 when the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture (ICTA) merged with UWI. The Cave Hill campus in Barbados was added in 1963; Codrington College, a theological college, joined with this campus in 1965. In 1962, UWI became independent of the University of London system. The first Vice-Chancellor of the independent institution, the St Lucian Sir Arthur Lewis, was to become the first person of African descent to win a Nobel Prize other than for peace, receiving the Nobel Memorial Prize for Economics in 1979.

As initially established, certain specialities were located on separate campuses. The Faculty of Medical Sciences was located on the Mona campus, the Faculty of Law was located on the Cave Hill campus, and the Faculties of Engineering and Agriculture were located on the St. Augustine campus. A second medical school was established by the Trinidad and Tobago government at the Mount Hope Medical Sciences Complex in 1989. In addition to human medicine, the Mount Hope campus also included Veterinary Medicine and Dentistry. A Tourism School was also established in The Bahamas.

[edit] Notable alumni

Seven of the regional Prime Ministers are graduates of the UWI. In addition, former UWI Pro-Vice Chancellor and St. Augustine Campus Principal, Professor Emeritus George Maxwell Richards is the current President of Trinidad and Tobago.