WESTERN BUREAU — The $30-million University of the West Indies Centre, located on the Cornwall College campus in Montego Bay, will be officially opened by Prime Minister P J Patterson on November 18.

The facility has been up and running for about a year and now has about 85 students enrolled in its distance education programme. Another 100 students will be added to the centre’s school of continuing studies come October 1.

Residents of western Jamaica provided almost $6 million of the project’s cost, while additional funding was supplied by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

The 544 square foot Centre, which is expected to provide residents in the western end of the island with more access to secondary and tertiary education, is housed in the refurbished Harrison House.

Plans to construct the facility had been on the drawing board from 1992, and the original construction cost was approximately $19 million (US$500,000). But delays in getting the project started contributed to the $10 million jump in its price tag.

A number of other sites were considered at the time, including parish council-owned lands at Bogue, land owned by John Rollins at Rose Hall, land owned by the Kerr-Jarrett family, and an offer of government-owned land at Bogue. However, in 1995, the Cornwall College Old Boys’ Association offered the Harrison House building, which is located on the school’s campus.

The new centre houses two teleconference rooms which can accommodate 32 people, a computer room for 16 students, a 12-person language lab, and a classroom/reading room that can seat 20. There are also general offices for the resident tutor and staff, a conference room, staff lounge and reception area.

Situated atop a hill that offers a breathtaking view of Montego Bay’s beachfront, the centre is furnished in an attractive and student friendly manner. Some of its walls are graced by paintings done by students of Cornwall College.