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First UWI Optometry cohort takes Oath

For Release Upon Receipt - August 13, 2013

St. Augustine


 ST. AUGUSTINE, Trinidad & Tobago – Four years ago, a Bachelor of Science in Optometry degree programme was launched at The University of the West Indies. Tomorrow, Wednesday August 14, the first cohort of the Optometry Programme of the Faculty of Medical Sciences participates in an official Oath-Taking Ceremony.  

Before September 2009, the English-speaking Caribbean did not have any Optometry programmes. The introduction of the Optometry programme arose out of the need to increase the number of trained optometrists to adequately service the ever growing demand to deliver effective health care services within the region’s health sectors. It was also in keeping with the World Health Organisation’s strategic plan, Vision 2020: The Right to Sight, as part of a global initiative for the elimination of avoidable blindness.  

The University of the West Indies has as one of its mandates the provision of appropriate human resources both in terms of numbers and appropriate skills and competences necessary to fulfill the developmental needs and in the process positively transform the Caribbean region. It is in this context that the Optometry programme now paves the way ahead to address this human resource need required by the region as it strives to fulfil the delivery of Vision 2020. 

The Oath-taking Ceremony takes place at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt. Hope, and the feature speaker is Minister of Health, Dr Fuad Khan, MP. For more information, please contact Deborah Crichlow-Martin at 645-2640 ext. 5020 or deborah.crichlow@sta.uwi.edu.

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More about the Optometry programme

A planning committee formed from high-ranking lecturers from the University of the West-Indies, optometrists and ophthalmologists from the public and private sector, got together to design this programme for optometric education. It is a hybrid of programmes with a proven track record of producing well-trained optometrists, but emphasis has also been put on local needs, as there is a relatively high number of persons with visual impairment in the Caribbean and particularly in Trinidad and Tobago. 

The programme was started in Semester 1 of the 2009/2010 academic year with 18 students and was under the Dean’s Office of the Faculty of Science and Agriculture (FSA). The only Optometric lecturer was Dr Subash Sharma, who started the programme and gathered lecturers from FSA and the Faculty of Medical Sciences to teach different modules. Dr Jan Bohringer began teaching in Semester 2 of the academic year and others followed. Today, the average intake is 26 students per academic year.

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, 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 over 50 physical site locations across the region, serving over 20 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, Pure & Applied Sciences, Science and 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.) 

For the latest UWI News, click http://sta.uwi.edu/news.

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