Page 55 - Self-Study Report for Institutional Accreditation

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Chapter 2
Overview of The UWI Open Campus and the Accreditation Years: 2012-2018
Introduction
The Open Campus is the fourth Campus of The University of the West Indies (The UWI). The Open Campus is a multi-mode Campus that offers online, blended and face-to-face programmes at the pre-university, continuing and professional education (CPE), undergraduate, and graduate levels. The Campus’s establishment and strategic direction were conceptualised in The UWI’s Strategic Plan for the period 2007-2012. In that Strategic Plan, Strategic Aim 4 entitled ‘Service to UWI- 12 countries and other underserved communities’ stated that The UWI will “... create an Open Campus to enable the University to expand the scope, enhance the appeal and improve the efficiency of its services to the individuals, communities and countries which it serves” (STRIDE, 2007, p. 20).
The Open Campus has physical locations in 15 UWI contributing countries and 1 associate contributing country. There are 44 Open Campus Country Sites (OCCS) across the Anglophone Caribbean and three (3) Open Learning Centres (OLCs), one on each of the three traditional Campuses of the University. In addition to the OCCS and the OLCs, there is the Consortium for Social Development and Research (CSDR). The CSDR has four functional research entities, namely Caribbean Child Development Centre (CCDC); Hugh Lawson Shearer Trade Union Education Institute (HLSTUEI); Social Work Training and Research Centre (SWTRC) formerly called the Social Welfare Training Centre (SWTC); and Women and Development Unit (WAND). The CSDR is the main research arm of the Open Campus. Its four research units work semi-autonomously but do sometimes collaborate on relevant research. Although mainly a research arm, some departments