Regional Headquarters, Jamaica. Wednesday, November 27, 2019—Barbados Independence celebrations came early for some students of The University of the West Indies (The UWI) studying software engineering in China. On November 8, Barbadian students enrolled in The UWI-China Institute of Information Technology (UWI-CIIT) were guests at an Independence reception hosted by His Excellency François Jackman, Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China. This coincided with the official visit of the Honourable Indar Weir, Barbados’ Minister of Agriculture and Food Security for the China International Import Expo.

Speaking to the students, Minister Weir encouraged them to recognise that China’s success in technology came through hard work, sacrifices, and strategy in the face of adversity. He urged them to take full advantage of this educational opportunity, challenging them to return to Barbados as nation builders for future generations.

UWI Assistant Registrar based in China for the BSc in Software Engineering, Justin Seale noted the importance of highlighting the students’ experiences and interactions in China, to encourage others to follow suit so that the Caribbean can be fully participative and leaders in the fourth industrial revolution.

Producing a generation of software engineers for the Caribbean is the primary goal of The UWI-CIIT, a collaboration with the Global Institute of Software Technology (GIST). These students are part of a larger complement comprising 36 Caribbean students, some of whom are now in the final year of The UWI-CIIT’s BSc in Software Engineering (Mobile Application Technologies), who are based at GIST in Suzhou, China. This unique four-year degree, offers Years 1 and 2 of study at a UWI campus in the Caribbean, and Years 3 and 4 in China where students benefit from classroom teaching, project training, and practicum, as well as research, software technology and foreign language application abilities.

Currently, applications are open for the September 2020 intake. Visit www.uwi.edu/softwareengineering for more information.