A CAMPUS LIKE NO OTHER
Excerpts from speech at the Ceremonial Opening of The UWI Five Islands Campus.
The Honourable GastonA. Browne Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda “The Five Islands Campus is the most significant blessing that has been bestowed on the people of Antigua and Barbuda since independence. Therefore, we are compelled to be thankful. Throughout history, in every part of the world, as people struggled to raise themselves from oppression, exploitation, discrimination and marginalization, their leaders asserted the central importance of education. … By opening the door of the university to all, we open the opportunity for this generation, and all the generations that follow: to know as much as the next person if not more; to hold their own anywhere in the world; to rise-up from the dark shadow of ignorance into the glowing light of knowledge of competitiveness and of respect.
Professor Sir Hilary Beckles Vice-Chancellor, The UWI “This is your university. For 71 years, you have supported it. You have stood by it. You have committed to it and you have shown trust in it. We are merely doing our job. You have done yours. We also know that the development of a nation, its economic transformation, its social sophistication, are expressions of the number of its citizens who have professional training, skills development, and higher education in general. In other words, the plank of development is the vehicle of higher education, professional training, and skills development. In my time as the Principal of the Cave Hill Campus in Barbados, Prime Minister Mia Mottley was my Minister of Education. Together we worked out a concept for the Cave Hill Campus that every household in Barbados would have at least one university graduate—and there were 110,000 households. Within a few years, Barbados had achieved the highest rate of tertiary education for young people in the Caribbean. Antigua and Barbuda now has a model. Now, we wish for Five Islands Campus and for this nation that will host it the same synergy of association, because this nation will rise up on the plank that will be the Five Islands Campus over the years to come.”
Prime Minister Gaston A. Browne and Professor Sir Hilary Beckles.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Hilary Beckles considered the historic opening of the University’s fifth campus— Five Islands—in St. John’s, Antigua, on September 1, 2019 “a matter of great pride for The UWI”. In addition to serving the needs of Antigua and Barbuda, the campus was designed to operate within the wider context of the country’s membership of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), which, with a population of 600,000 citizens, had traditionally been underserved regarding accessing tertiary education. Formally launched with a public ecumenical service at The St. John’s Cathedral, followed by a ceremonial opening on September 3, the new 21 st century, fit-for- purpose FIC commenced operations in Semester 1 of academic year 2019/2020, with 175 students registered for programmes across three schools: Health and Behavioural Sciences; Humanities and Education; Management, Sciences and Technology.
Education is as much a human right as it is a social and economic good.
The establishment of the fourth landed campus of The UWI is a landmark event and a defining moment in our nation’s history. It opens a further pathway for our country’s growth, development and prosperity, through improved education, expanded knowledge, and increased capacity of its most significant resource — its people.”
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