Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal. March, 25, 2021— Vice-Chancellor of The University of the West Indies (The UWI), Professor Sir Hilary Beckles has lauded The UWI Open Campus for its work in higher education in the Caribbean. Delivering remarks at the Open Campus Council Meeting on Friday, March 19, 2021, Professor Beckles described the Open Campus as “our frontline Caribbean Campus and it has evolved to keep apace of the changing times…it has changed the landscape of higher education delivery in the region.”

Professor Beckles’ comments were in reference to the Campus Annual Report presented by Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the Open Campus, Dr Luz Longsworth in which she stated that the Campus has over 20-thousand students in 17 Caribbean countries and several other extra-regional states.

“It is a report of success,” Professor Beckles affirmed. He explained that the Annual Reports speaks critically of the success of the Open Campus, the brilliance of the leadership, the solidarity and the resilience of the staff, and the high morale within both the student body and the staff.

“The Open Campus has led the northern strategy and now it will lead us into the southern strategy – Guyana,” The Vice-Chancellor stated. Noting that Guyana is not a contributing territory of The UWI, Sir Hilary said Guyana is part of the heart of the Caribbean civilization and the Open Campus has opened that door for The UWI.

The northern strategy includes the opening of a UWI/State University of New York Centre in New York. “The Campus, through its leader, Dr Longsworth has pioneered UWI/SUNY Centre for the Study of Leadership in Sustainable Development,” Professor Beckles explained.

Noting that the Open Campus was established to advance the interest of the people in the region, the Vice-Chancellor expressed, “no matter how remote a community from its city centre…wherever you are in the eco-system of your country, the Open Campus is there penetrating your village, your household to bring you into the human resource strategy of the region.”

Open Campus Principal optimistic about future

Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the Open Campus Dr Luz Longsworth was upbeat and optimistic about the future of the Open Campus. Presenting the 2019/2020 Open Campus Annual Report entitled “The Future is Open,” Dr Longsworth outlined an impressive list of accomplishments of the last academic year as well as exciting projects ahead.

Speaking about the pending UWI Global Campus, the Principal said the Open Campus will play a significant role in the process of establishing The UWI Global Campus. She explained that the campus has the ICT infrastructure and online expertise to lead UWI Global online. 

The Principal was also buoyed by two new projects: the move into Guyana and signing of an Agreement with EON Reality for the establishment of an Eon XR Centre in the Caribbean, the first in the English-speaking Caribbean. The EON Reality project will involve the use of virtual reality and augmented reality in the teaching and learning in The UWI. The EON XR Centre will be established at the Open Campus Chaguanas Centre in Trinidad and Tobago. “This centre will be a major step in teaching of innovation in the Caribbean online and we are very thrilled to be receiving this grant guarantee of 25 million US dollars to set up this new centre,” Dr Longsworth stated. 

“The centre will focus on developing educational products that can be used across The University of the West Indies in enhancing our online teaching modality,” Principal Longsworth explained. 

With respect to the Guyana project, the Government of Guyana will establish an Open Campus Site in Guyana and will contract the Campus to training over 4000 Guyanese in areas deemed to be of strategic importance to the country. The agreement between The UWI and the Government of Guyana will be signed in the coming days. 

Growth in spite of COVID-19

Principal Longsworth reported growth in the registration numbers in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic during the academic year. She noted that during the academic year under review there were 7479 students in Senate-approved programmes compared with 6781 students in the 2018/2019 academic year, and 6268 students in 2017/2018. 

There was a marked increase in the number of graduates as well the Principal reported to Council. There were 812 graduates in the 2019/2020 graduation which was hosted online for the first time on January 13, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Of those graduates, 179 received first-class honours and 96 received distinctions and high commendation. Five-hundred and eighty-two students received undergraduate certificates while 230 received postgraduate degrees.

The Campus Council meeting congratulated the Campus Council Chair The Honourable Ambassador Dr June Soomer who received Saint Lucia’s highest Independence honour, the Saint Lucia Cross in February this year.

The meeting also received several reports including reports from the Student Guild President, Mr Leon Dawson, Open Campus Alumni report presented by Ms Hannah Hamilton, directors of divisions of the Campus and the Campus Audit Committee.

Campus Chief Financial Officer, Dr Noel Morgan presented the Financial Report 2019/2020, while Mr Stanley Reid, member of the Open Campus Audit Committee, representing the Chair, Dr Robertine Chaderton delivered the report from the Audit Committee. Mr Reid also presented a resolution to address outstanding government contributions.

The Open Campus Council meeting was attended by various education stakeholders including student guild, alumni, employees’ representatives, several ministries of education are also represented on the Campus Council – British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Cayman islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and Minister of Education in Bermuda, Honourable Walter H. Roban; Association of Caribbean Tertiary Institutions (ACTI) and other UWI Campuses.

This was the second consecutive year that the Campus Council meeting was held online. 

The open session of the Council meeting can be viewed using this link: https://www.facebook.com/UWITV/ videos/522011298768071