Name Changes for Hugh Lawson Shearer Trade Union Education Institute and the Social Welfare Training Centre
Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal. Thursday, February 21, 2019 — The Principal of The University of the West Indies (UWI) Open Campus is pleased to announce the renaming of two Units within the Open Campus. The Hugh Lawson Shearer Trade Union Education Institute (HLSTUEI) and the Social Welfare Training Centre (SWTC).
The Hugh Lawson Shearer Trade Union Education Institute was renamed Hugh Shearer Labour Studies Institute (HSLSI), while the Social Welfare Training Centre is now the Social Work Training and Research Centre (SWTRC). Both units are part of the Consortium for Social Development and Research (CSDR). The name change is as a result of the CSDR’s Quality Assurance Review conducted in 2016 and is aligned to the strategic objectives of the University.
The Hugh Shearer Labour Studies Institute was agreed on after extensive consultations with academics, government officials, and trade union leadership, and is supported by the Institute’s staff. The new name reflects the pedagogical expansion of the programmes and activities offered by the Institute. The Institute has expanded its reach regionally and internationally, by forging alliances with various organisations within the tripartite community.
The Institute was a gift from the Government of the United States of America through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), as part of the co-operative programming in education. It was established in 1963 with the support of the Government of Jamaica, The University of the West Indies, the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union, the National Workers Union and the then Trades Union Congress of Jamaica.
The decision to rename the Social Welfare Training Centre is timely and comes on the heels of important developments in the profession such as licensure of social work professionals, which will require robust and new areas of training and development through centres such as the newly named Social Work Training and Research Centre. It will also set the Centre on a rejuvenated path of action research, social work activism and development in Jamaica and the region.
The Centre was established in 1962, with support from the Government of Jamaica, as a regional training unit within the former Extra Mural Department of The University of the West Indies (UWI). It was established to meet the needs of persons working in the broad field of social work, either as professionals or voluntary workers in recognized agencies who did not have the benefit of professional training in social work.
Over the years, the Centre has developed into a dynamic institution offering a range of training courses to para professional social workers in the governmental and non-governmental sectors of the Caribbean region.
The Social Work Training and Research Centre mandate for training of paraprofessionals remains, however, the name change reflects the Centre’s new and expanded role in youth work, community development, counselling and other human and social development areas. Most importantly, this name change will provide a clear and distinctive organizational image and identity that will shape perceptions and preserve the heritage of the Centre, while presenting it as current and relevant.
Both Units have had a dynamic history and will continue to build on their legacy of service and leadership.
About The UWI
For the past 70 years The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has provided service and leadership to the Caribbean region and wider world. The UWI has evolved from a university college of London in Jamaica with 33 medical students in 1948 to an internationally respected, regional university with near 50,000 students and four campuses: Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago, Cave Hill in Barbados, and an Open Campus. As part of its robust globalization agenda, The UWI has established partnering centres with universities in North America, Asia, and Africa such as the State University of New York (SUNY)-UWI Center for Leadership and Sustainable Development, the UWI-China Institute of Information Technology, the University of Lagos (UNILAG)-UWI Institute of African and Diaspora Studies and the Institute for Global African Affairs with the University of Johannesburg (UJ). The UWI offers over 800 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Social Sciences and Sport.
As the region’s premier research academy, The UWI’s foremost objective is driving the growth and development of the regional economy. Times Higher Education has ranked The UWI among the top 1,258 universities in world for 2019, and the top 40 best universities in its Latin America Rankings for 2018, and was the only Caribbean-based university to make the prestigious lists. For more, visit www.uwi.edu.
(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)
