Harris

Today will be celebrated across the region as UWI Day.

Governor-General of Jamaica, Sir Kenneth Hall, and Caribbean countries heads of state and government will sign a proclamation to this effect, as the University of the West Indies (UWI) begins a year-long programme of celebration of the 60th anniversary of its founding.

Celebratory events will take place across the English-speaking Caribbean and the Caribbean diaspora in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom throughout this year.

It was on January 7, 1948, that the first meeting of the provisional council of the University College of the West Indies (UCWI) was held in Jamaica. At that meeting, the decision was taken that the lands at Mona, Jamaica, were most suitable for establishing the first campus of the UCWI, now UWI.

The UWI, which was established that year as a university college in special relationship with the University of London and given its own Royal Charter as an autonomous university in 1962, is the oldest, fully regional institution of higher learning in the Commonwealth Caribbean.

Supported by 15 Caribbean countries, the UWI is the leading research institution in the region and has, since its establishment, produced more than 70,000 graduates in various disciplines, including several of the region's prime ministers and governors-general.

Planned events

Celebrations begin in Barbados on January 12, with an inter-faith service, a night cricket match between the Chancellor's XI and the Vice-Chancellor's XI, and a gala concert on January 13, featuring the National Dance Theatre of Jamaica, the University Singers, UWI Cave Hill's Cavite Chorale, Voices of Montserrat and the United States-based Duke Ellington School of the Arts Chorus.

Other events will be held throughout the year in Barbados, Jamaica and in Trinidad, as well as in the other 12 contributing countries - Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

UWI Vice-Chancellor, Professor E. Nigel Harris, has said that preparations are advancing for the highlight of the year, 'Convocation Week and the Gathering of the Graduates', at Mona from July 12-19.

Professor Harris said, "Since its establishment in 1948, the UWI has played a critical role in providing graduates who have made significant contributions to all sectors of the English-speaking Caribbean and the world beyond."

The UWI, he added, has also contributed to the development of new knowledge in the social sciences, economics, the humanities, arts, medicine, the sciences and other fields of endeavour. Over these years, he said, the UWI has also partnered with community colleges and universities to broaden access and improve the quality of tertiary education in the 15 contributing countries.