Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal. Monday, October 27, 2025—The University of the West Indies (The UWI) Global Campus has reaffirmed its decade-long commitment to empowering the nation’s youth through its Alumni Outreach Programme titled “Preparing Today for Tomorrow’s Challenges - Transforming Children’s Lives” (PTFTC-TCL). This transformative initiative is being administered in sixteen (16) secondary schools across Barbados.
Sponsored by Dr Arvat McClaine, the Sandals Foundation, and Rock Hard Cement, the PTFTC-TCL Programme aims to foster lasting positive change by equipping students with essential employability and “soft” skills necessary for navigating the world of work and life successfully.
The 2025/2026 academic year began with a series of orientation sessions held during the week of September 23, 2025, which set the tone for a year of personal growth and engagement. Each participating school hosted an intensive session entitled, “Presenting Yourself Properly,” which focused on developing self-awareness, confidence, and a winning mindset – critical attributes linked to overall lifelong success. Facilitators emphasised the importance of vocabulary development, professional appearance and the mastery of key soft-skills, self-advocacy, confidence and adaptability, traits that employers consistently identify as integral to workplace success.
Students participated in interactive exercises designed to deepen their understanding and encourage application of the concepts discussed. These activities fostered meaningful reflection and action, encouraging students to start integrating these skills into their daily lives. The programme aspires to nurture individuals who can make meaningful contributions to their schools, families, future workplaces and communities.
This initiative reflects The UWI Global Campus’s enduring mission to elevate the standards of excellence in the Barbadian society. It is a tangible step towards the fulfilment of the University’s broader mandate: to advance learning, create knowledge and foster innovation for the positive transformation of the Caribbean society and wider world.
“The PTFTC-TCL programme is one of our initiatives which underscore in a real and practical sense what the Global Campus stands for,” says Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal Dr Francis O. Severin. “Emotional intelligence and social skills are sadly lacking in mainstream curricular or, are not given much priority.
This means that students may emerge from secondary schools with high grades / credentials but tragically lacking in social skills and elegance. The PTFTC-TCL tries to reverse this trend. We are proud of this.”
About The University of the West Indies
The UWI has been and continues to be a pivotal force in every aspect of Caribbean development, residing at the center of all efforts to improve the well-being of people across the region for over 75 years. From a university college of London in Jamaica with 33 medical students in 1948, The UWI is today an internationally respected, global university with nearly 50,000 students and five campuses: Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago, Cave Hill in Barbados, Five Islands in Antigua and Barbuda and its Global Campus, and global centres in partnership with universities in North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe.
The UWI offers over 1000 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Culture, Creative and Performing Arts, Food and Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities and Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology, Social Sciences, and Sport. As the Caribbean’s leading university, it possesses the largest pool of Caribbean intellect and expertise committed to confronting the critical issues of our region and the wider world.
The UWI has been consistently ranked among the best in the world by the most reputable ranking agency, Times Higher Education (THE). Since The UWI’s 2018 debut in THE’s rankings, it has performed well in multiple schemes—among them including World University Rankings, Golden Age University Rankings (between 50 and 80 years old), Latin America Rankings, and the Impact Rankings for its response to the world’s biggest concerns, outlined in the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including Good Health and Well-being; Gender Equality and Climate Action.
Learn more at www.uwi.edu.
