By Christopher Tobutt

Professor Hazel Simmons McDonald, Principal of the Open Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) spoke about an expanded role for the UWI’s Cayman Open Campus during a brief visit to the facility at Olympic Way in George Town.

“I would like to see the UWI become much more prominent in the Cayman Islands, offering a wider variety of programmes and courses.  I would also like to see the open campus offering access to programmes for people who otherwise might not have had the opportunity to pursue tertiary education,” she said.

Such programmes, Ms Simmons McDonald said, would be for those who had no formal educational certificates such as CXEs or A-levels, traditionally required as a way of securing a place on a tertiary level course.  “They would be what I call ‘scaffolding’ courses, for example in  multiple literacy, IT, and mathematics that would help build competencies to make people ready for higher levels of certification,” she added.

Explaining one very ambitious new project on the horizon for UWI’s Cayman Campus, whereby the number and range of courses already offered via distance learning facilities will be greatly expanded, Ms Simmons McDonald described what has been dubbed the Single Virtual University Space: “That’s the Vice-Chancellor’s brainwave; he believes that UWI can make itself more accessible, to allow people to take a course from any of the campuses that they like. That would be synchronously, so that if somebody is teaching a course in Cave Hill (Jamaica) and a student wants to take it by streaming the course through one of the various systems that we have, the student here will, in real time, be able to participate with the other students from around the Caribbean,, and have interaction with them and with the lecturer- It will be just as though he or she were in a lecture room in Jamaica or Trinidad or Barbados. Once we have the equipment and the technology installed that would be possible – they could do it from this (UWI’s Cayman Campus) site but they could also do it from their homes if they have mobile connectivity to the internet too,” she continued.

The new developments would complement UWI’s existing offerings, which already offer a wide range of tertiary-level courses, including bachelors and masters degrees in finance, education and the social sciences. UWI’s Cayman Campus is particularly proud of the fact that all their degrees are well recognized not only across the region but world-wide, providing graduates with a first-class educational foundation to the chosen profession. Another very attractive attribute is the comparatively low cost of the degrees – often at around a third of the price of a comparative degree from another institution. When the substantial savings that can be made from staying at home to study are also taken into account, UWI’s Cayman Campus represents a very attractive and flexible alternative for those who are looking at ways to gain an accredited degree but who may find time constraints – not to mention budgetary constraints – an otherwise impossible hurdle.

In addition to structured bachelors and masters programmes the UWI Cayman Campus offers a very wide range of ‘workshops’ and certificate courses designed to help meet specific needs. There are also courses intended for general interest, such as the forthcoming 10-session series on Bible Prophesy, beginning in June.

Photo Caption: Professor Hazel Simmons McDonald, Principal of the Open Campus of the University of the West Indies, spoke about her vision for UWI’s future in Cayman at the Open Campus site in Olympic Way.

Photo by Christopher Tobutt