Regional Headquarters, Jamaica. Friday, 21 April 2017 – The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has noted, with surprise, the announcement made by Trinidad & Tobago’s Minister of Education, Mr. Anthony Garcia at a post-Cabinet media briefing earlier today, on the subject of the appointment of a new UWI Chancellor.
The University Administration wishes to take this opportunity to indicate that Chancellors are appointed in accordance with the University’s Statute 4 which clearly states, “The Chancellor shall be appointed by the University Council.”
The University confirms that over the past few months, it has been working through a specially-appointed Search Committee, to identify an appropriate successor to Sir George Alleyne, who is carded to demit office in the latter half of 2017.
The matter of the appointment of the University’s new Chancellor is an item on the agenda for the upcoming Annual Business Meeting of University Council, set to take place on April 27, 2017, in Barbados. It is at this meeting that a final decision will be made on the new UWI Chancellor.
About The UWI
Since its inception in 1948, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a fully-fledged, regional University with over 50,000 students. Today, The UWI is the largest, most longstanding higher education provider in the Commonwealth Caribbean, with three physical campuses in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and an Open Campus. The UWI serves 17 English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, The British Virgin Islands, The Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turks and Caicos. The UWI’s faculty and students come from more than 40 countries and The University has collaborative links with 160 universities globally; it offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food and Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities and Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology and Social Sciences. The UWI’s seven priority focal areas are linked closely to the priorities identified by CARICOM and take into account such over-arching areas of concern to the region as environmental issues, health and wellness, gender equity and the critical importance of innovation. (Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.) Visit: www.uwi.edu.
