THE British Foundation for the University of the West Indies (BFUWI) was launched on September 25 at the Commonwealth Club, London, England, by the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the University of the West Indies United Kingdom Alumni Association (UWIUKAA).

David Thompson, prime minister of Barbados; UWI chancellor Sir George Alleyne; vice-chancellor and BFUWI trustee, Professor E Nigel Harris; along with H E Laleshwar Singh, Guyana’s high commissioner to London and dean of the Caribbean High Commissioners in the UK, addressed the launch event.

Winston Bayley, BFUWI trustee; former UWI chancellor, Sir Shridath Ramphal; and Sir Ronald Sanders, diplomat and financial media advisor, witnessed the launch attended by BFUWI patrons, Commonwealth and Caribbean professionals and diaspora leaders, members of parliament and British and Caribbean media.

The BFUWI will operate as a professional UK charity in compliance with the rules and regulations of the governing UK Charities Commission, to raise funds and garner support for the UWI through promotional and relationship-building activities principally in the UK. The BFUWI is eligible under UK taxation law for the financial credits arising from Gift Aid Payments.

It is expected, the vice-chancellor said, that funds raised by the BFUWI will help to:

. promote and finance undergraduate and postgraduate students based on merit and need;

. promote and help finance academic exchanges between the UK and the Caribbean to enhance knowledge development;

. fund chairs at the UWI in specific areas of endeavour;

. help fund facilities to promote human resource and knowledge development; and

. finance internships for UK students to study in the Caribbean.

The BFUWI is the second overseas foundation to be established by the UWI in association with one of its alumni groups.

The American Foundation for the University of the West Indies was established in 1956 as a non-profit organisation to develop an Endowment Fund in the US for the UWI.

Harris hailed the launch of the BFUWI as “the cementing of a longstanding partnership between our university and Caribbean and British nationals to sustain and develop the UWI”.

Noting that the UWI, which celebrated its 60th anniversary last year, was founded in 1948 as the University College of the West Indies by the University of London with Princess Alice as its patron, Harris said that in commemorating this anniversary, the UWI and UWIUKAA collaborated to establish the BFUWI which was officially registered with the UK Charity Commission on January 7.

He added that “the UWI is the only pan-Caribbean tertiary institution offering many diverse, accredited programmes across its Caribbean countries to almost 40,000 regional and overseas students, preparing them for future careers in the region and beyond, but cannot realise its full potential because of scarce funds to support students without means as well as to promote the sort of enquiry that postgraduate students can contribute to areas of new knowledge that can drive regional development.”

For more than 50 years, AFUWI has provided scholarships and grants and funded special projects to foster the development of the university.