About The UWI

Since its inception in 1948, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a fully-fledged, regional University with over 50,000 students. Today, The UWI is the largest, most long-standing higher education provider in the Commonwealth Caribbean, with three physical campuses in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and an Open Campus.

The UWI serves 17 English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, The British Virgin Islands, The Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turks and Caicos. The UWI’s faculty and students come from more than 40 countries and The University has collaborative links with 160 universities globally; it offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food and Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities and Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology and Social Sciences.

The UWI’s seven priority focal areas are linked closely to the priorities identified by CARICOM and take into account such over-arching areas of concern to the region as environmental issues, health and wellness, gender equity and the critical importance of innovation.

About The UWI Open Campus

The newest campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) was formally launched in Antigua & Barbuda on July 4 at the CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting in 2008. The Open Campus is an amalgamation of the previous Office of the Board for Non-Campus Countries & Distance Education (BNNCDE), the School of Continuing Studies (formerly the Extra-Mural Department) the UWI Distance Education Centre (UWIDEC), and the Tertiary Level Institutions Unit (TLIU).

The Campus, which has over 45 physical site locations in 17 English-speaking Caribbean countries, offers multi-mode teaching and learning services through virtual and physical site locations across the Caribbean region.

The Open Campus has developed a unique approach in the Caribbean region to enhancing the student experience in innovative continuing and professional education, undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing education study programmes and courses by distance, blended, online and face-to-face learning modes. We offer a three-tiered registration structure to suit particular needs and educational backgrounds. The system allows our students to move and transfer within the entire University system to reach the required standard.

All of our convenient and high-quality undergraduate, graduate and continuing and professional education programmes and courses, have been designed in direct response to meet the changing educational and training needs of the underserved communities across the Caribbean region.

The Open Campus also works closely with our sister UWI Campuses at Cave Hill, Mona and St. Augustine to offer many collaborative academic options in many key areas for Caribbean and global markets.

In Jamaica, there are 10 updated and well-equipped Open Campus Country Sites located at very convenient locations for students. These are at Camp Road, Mona, Brown’s Town, Mandeville, May Pen, Montego Bay, Morant Bay, Ocho Rios, Port Antonio, and Savanna-la-mar.

More information about Open Campus short courses and other academic programmes may be found at www.open.uwi.edu/prospective/welcome.

Local Jamaican information may be found at www.open.uwi.edu/jamaica/

Open Campus Guiding Principles

The Open Campus of the University of the West Indies is based on the idea that the high-quality university education, research and services available at our institution should be open and available to all people who wish to reach their full potential inside and outside of the Caribbean region.

The Open Campus adopts quality teaching and learning experiences, innovative pedagogic design, relevant research and community partnerships to deliver face-to-face, blended and online learning.