From open to global campus

AS part of its plans to transform into a primary entrepreneurial enterprise, The University of the West Indies (The UWI) will be converting its Open Campus to a global one.

Outlining the actions to be taken to transform the 73-year-old academic institution to a financially viable one, Vice Chancellor, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, assured the shift would take The UWI to the next level.

“Most of the projects that we are going to roll out are already in place in the early incipient stages. For example, we have had an Open Campus now for over a decade. We are now going to convert that Open Campus into a global campus, the global UWI. It will take us maybe a year or two to make sure that we are ready, and a business plan has been worked out, a feasibility study is being worked out and we will go for approval shortly, so that we will have this global campus in order to attract thousands of students into our university,” he said.

Speaking during a media conference recently, Sir Hilary gave greater details as to how some open campuses will operate.

“Over at the Open Campus site in Grenada, the government of Grenada has invested 80 acres of beachfront property in Grenada, to the university to the Open Campus. The strategy that the Open Campus has come up with is to develop an international centre for sport injury rehabilitation. It’s in the beautiful hillsides of Grenada, and a perfect environment, overlooking the Caribbean Sea and the idea of an international centre for sport rehabilitation in that ecosystem there, is going to be very attractive. So they are working through with the government and the private sector and the feasibility analysis, they’re looking at the numbers, they’re doing their market research, and they are preparing to roll this out. So here’s the campus that already has that,” he explained.