KINGSTON, Jamaica — Graduation season for The University of the West Indies (The UWI) commences this weekend on Sunday, January 10.

The first graduation ceremony is at the Five Islands Campus in Antigua and Barbuda where six women who will be awarded diplomas in education have made history as the first graduands from The UWI’s newest campus which was established in 2019.

The university noted that across the region, an estimated 8,500 graduands from the class of 2020 will have their degrees conferred during the series of virtual and blended celebrations. The UWI Chancellor, Robert Bermudez will confer the degrees virtually and chairs of the campus councils will preside over the ceremonies in their respective territories.

In spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, the university said it will retain the tradition of recognising Caribbean excellence through the conferral of honorary degrees awarded to 14 people for their outstanding contributions to regional and international development.

The university said its public information platform, UWItv will play a more pivotal role in this year’s presentation of the graduates in the absence of physical events. It added that a total of 11 graduation ceremonies are scheduled to be broadcast live via www.uwitv.org as well as on UWItv’ s channels on Flow EVO, Facebook and YouTube.