Big plans for UWI’s 70th anniversary
The University of the West Indies (UWI) has reached 70 years of existence and there are big celebrations planned.
Speaking at the inaugural Confucius Institute Lecture, which was held at the Walcott Warner Theatre, Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination recently, Dr. Henderson Carter, the chair of the 70th anniversary committee, revealed that they had quite a number of exciting activities planned to celebrate this momentous occasion of 70 years of leadership.
“Our University started October 3rd, 1948 with 33 medical students at the Mona Campus. We now have four campuses and over 40 000 students and that is something to be grateful for,” he said.
“This year-round celebration includes public lectures in Barbados and the OECS territories, symposiums, community talks, a gala dinner, heritage tours, sporting activities and exhibitions. And I’m sure you will all join us for some, if not all, of these events,” he said.
Pro Vice-Chancellor of UWI, Cave Hill Campus, Professor Eudine Barriteau expressed that she was pleased that the inaugural lecture of the Confucius Institute fell within this year of celebration. She revealed that the Confucius Institute is only three years old, however, from inception, they envisioned it to be a very dynamic and involved aspect and entity of the Cave Hill Campus. She added that in this way, they regarded the Confucius Institute not as an exotic edition, but an institute that is involved and fully immersed in academic and cultural life of the campus.
Recently, as part of celebrations, at the Regional headquarters in Jamaica, January 15th, UWI would have declared January 23rd as “W Arthur Lewis Day”.
The University’s newsletter highlighted that “as the University of the West Indies celebrates its 70th anniversary, its Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies will commemorate the work of Sir Arthur, the University’s first Vice-Chancellor, and celebrate 70 years of research contributions to the economic policy and process in the Caribbean.” (CLF)