“We’re using the technology to take the university to the people instead of waiting on the people to come to the classrooms.”

THIS is just one aspect of the philosophy of the University of the West Indies, Open Campus as it enters its fourth year of existence.

The Open Campus is the fourth campus of the regional educational institution, the University of the West Indies, and the latest initiative of the institution in its quest to enhance regional expansion and education. The Open Campus has over 40 sites across the region situated in 17 countries, with 11 of that number being in Jamaica. An additional two sites are also under construction.

In a recent interview with TEENage, Dr Luz Longsworth, Director of the Open Campus, shared the facets of the institution and its offerings.

She explained that the key difference between the Open Campus and other universities is that it offers programmes for varying levels of education. The Open Campus is designed in such a way that opportunities of advancement are available to everyone and the door isn’t closed on anyone because of a lack of qualifications.

She elaborated by stating, “the aim is to build on your knowledge base from whatever level you are at”. Therefore, whether you are a high school graduate hoping to matriculate or an undergraduate hoping to garner greater knowledge in a particular field, there is a programme accessible and suited for your development.

The areas of emphasis for the UWI Open Campus are education, management and other Social Sciences, but they are working on the development of new programmes. The UWI Open Campus provides certificate programmes, associate degrees, undergraduate and post-graduate programmes ,as well as year-long courses that help professionals to gain a more academic understanding of the elements of their craft.

Some of the undergraduate programmes available include management studies (which was their flagship programme) and accounting while associate degrees are available in business management, criminology and social work.

At the post-graduate level the focus is placed on education but they are also looking to increase their offerings in this area. Professional enhancement courses are available in fields such as entertainment management and supervisory management.

In this fast-paced society we live in, not everyone is in a position to enter a classroom daily to acquire the necessary knowledge. That being said, in addition to the physical learning centres, a key aspect of the UWI Open Campus is their online offerings with many of the programmes and degrees being made available via Internet.

There has been increasing developments in their online programmes in recent times so as to assist those who find it difficult to engage in the physical requirements of other educational institutions with a main component of this phenomenon being educational software known as Illuminate, which provides real-time interaction for individuals once internet is available.

While used predominantly in more quantitative courses, it allows the student to take part in a lecture in a virtual classroom, giving them the luxury of providing and receiving feedback from other participants and lecturers.

As stated by Dr Longsworth, the University of the West Indies Open Campus is, “a campus for the time, a campus for the future”. The structure and nature of the UWI Open Campus provides a hard-to-resist invitation for all members of society looking to increase their education and knowledge base. So, if you’re interested in doing such then the Open Campus is definitely an opportunity to pursue.