News Releases

UWI Open Campus receives institutional accreditation status

For Release Upon Receipt - July 22, 2013

St. Augustine


ST. AUGUSTINE, Trinidad & Tobago – History was created in Barbados for the University of the West Indies (UWI) Open Campus and the Barbados Accreditation Council (BAC) when the UWI Open Campus was bestowed institutional accreditation status. The ceremony was held on Monday July 8, 2013 at the BAC’s headquarters in St. Michael, Barbados and was streamed live across the Caribbean to the various locations of the Open Campus in 16 countries.   

In her opening remarks, Chairperson of the BAC, Ms. Yvonne Walkes stated that “institutional accreditation by an authorised agency such as the BAC will give learners and the wider national community greater confidence in the quality of the overall operations of your Open Campus. International accreditation further signals to the international tertiary education and training community Barbados’ commitment as a nation to the provision of high quality post-secondary/tertiary education and that our country’s training provides value for money.” 

In order to achieve this status, said Ms. Walkes, all aspects of the educational institution have to be reviewed and examined, including its vision and mission, the standards of its educational provisions, its goals and objectives and the effectiveness of its administrative process and other areas. In doing so, it has been established that the educational institution is operating at a high level. 

Ms. Walkes further stated that the accreditation offered by the BAC also provides an opportunity for educational institutions such as the Open Campus to aim to improve the quality of their operations on a regular basis as the process to get there requires much dedication and evaluation of the various processes and services involved. 

In closing, Ms. Walkes presented the Certificate of Institutional Accreditation to Open Campus Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Hazel Simmons-McDonald. In expressing her deep appreciation for the signal honour of being the first institution to achieve accreditation from the BAC, the Principal stated that the “accreditation process for the Open Campus was not an accident, but began as a result of careful consideration and deliberations by the Vice Chancellor, Professor E. Nigel Harris, and members of the Executive Management Committee of The UWI”.  She also revealed that the road to achieving accreditation was not clear-cut, because of the regional spread of The UWI Open Campus. However, she gave much credit to the staff and students of The UWI Open Campus who worked assiduously to ensure that the self-study process and the accreditation visit were successful.   

Quoting from Philip Crosby that “quality has to be the fabric of the organisation, not part of the fabric”, the Principal opined that the accreditation exercise brought about the realisation that quality is indeed the fabric of the Open Campus. She added that the truths revealed by the evaluation were viewed as a tool for improvement, using the institutional accreditation standards of the Barbados Accreditation Council as a catalyst for self-evaluation. Professor Simmons-McDonald emphasised that the achievement of institutional accreditation for six years after only five years of existence was “a major endorsement of the quality of our programme offerings and services to our students and it validates the University’s decision in 2007 to establish an Open Campus. Ours is indeed a Campus for the times, a Campus for the Future!” 

The ceremony was chaired by Ms. Valda Alleyne, Executive Director of the Barbados Accreditation Council. In attendance were Mr. Kenneth Walters, Deputy Chairperson, Barbados Accreditation Council; Chief Education Officer, Mr. Laurie King, Board member of the Barbados Accreditation Council; Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the UWI Open Campus, Professor Hazel Simmons-McDonald; Deputy Principal, Professor Vivienne Roberts; staff of the BAC, staff and alumni of The UWI Open Campus, and other University personnel.

End 

About THE UWI

Over the last six decades, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged University with over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest and most longstanding higher education provider in the English-speaking Caribbean, with main campuses in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, and Centres in Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Christopher (St Kitts) & Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent & the Grenadines. UWI recently launched its Open Campus, a virtual campus with 45 physical site locations across the region, serving 16 countries in the English-speaking Caribbean. UWI is an international university with faculty and students from over 40 countries and collaborative links with over 60 universities around the world. Through its seven Faculties, UWI offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Food & Agriculture, and Social Sciences. 

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.) 

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