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Cave Hill @60 Shining Like a Diamond
Sir Hilary said, “Not only did it prosper in its alignment with the economic development model and gave Barbados the competitive edge it needed in so many areas, but how proud we all felt when our [then] Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research Professor Wayne Hunte announced that on a per capita basis, Cave Hill was the leading producer of cutting-edge peer-reviewed articles and monographed production. “Here, the youngest landed campus [at the time] had risen to become the leading campus in the publication of quality research, University Press publications, and international peer-reviewed journals. Cave Hill had soared, also, as a research publishing powerhouse.” Its impact on its host country and neighbouring region has been profound. Overall, more than 40,000 students have graduated from Cave Hill, and a working group estimated nearly a decade ago that the campus generated $200 million in additional economic activity and more than $80 million in foreign exchange annually in Barbados. Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the Cave Hill Campus Professor Clive Landis commended his predecessors - Professor Leslie Robinson, Sir Sidney Martin, Sir Keith Hunte, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles,
Having weathered numerous challenges and crises in its existence so far, The University of the West Indies at Cave Hill is being celebrated as a beacon of Caribbean resilience and achievement as it turns 60. “Cave Hill stepped up to the plate and has been a magnificent success. It prospered!” declared UWI Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Hilary Beckles who served as a principal of the campus for 13 years. He was speaking at a media launch held on 19 January to announce year-long celebratory plans to mark Cave Hill’s diamond jubilee this year. The celebrations are being observed under the theme Resolute and Resilient . The institution was established at the Deep Water Harbour in 1963 where it operated as the College of Arts and Sciences. Four years later, it moved to its current site at Cave Hill, St. Michael and became a full-fledged campus with the establishment of its first faculty, the Faculty of Law, in 1970. Sir Hilary, a renowned historian, said
Professor Clive Landis Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal The UWI, Cave Hill Campus
the campus was established during a transformative period in Barbados’s history when the authorities were intent on moving away from a plantation society and forging a new developmental path. C ave Hill itself was also transformed in the process. Enrolment grew dramatically after the Owen Arthur administration removed the cap on student admission numbers. Today, enrolment stands at more than 6,000, a far cry from the inaugural cohort of 118.
CHILL NEWS 16
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