News Releases

UWI’s Single Virtual University Space

For Release Upon Receipt - August 23, 2013

St. Augustine


ST. AUGUSTINE, Trinidad & Tobago – Professor Nigel Harris, Vice-Chancellor of The University of the West Indies (UWI), has announced the appointment of Mrs. Pauline Francis-Cobley as University Programme Coordinator of the Single Virtual University Space (SVUS) which is currently being established across The UWI.

The SVUS is a cyber-platform that will enable students anywhere in the region to have access to the best teaching/learning resources from any of the four UWI campuses through video-streaming and related modalities. Technology will power a seamless SVUS environment and promote greater regional integration by sharing more courses across campuses and allowing access to larger numbers of students in the Caribbean’s island-nations. It will serve to enhance research collaboration and effectiveness along with opportunities for international linkages. 

Professor Harris notes that “The SVUS will create institutional synergies to bring UWI closer to the notion of a ‘Connected University’ and help UWI build up and exploit a virtual critical mass, to make up for the lack of a physical critical mass.” 

Mrs Francis-Cobley’s appointment as SVUS Programme Coordinator took effect from August 1, 2013.

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About Mrs. Francis-Cobley

Mrs. Francis-Cobley holds an MSc in Computer Science from Jackson State University, Mississippi, USA and a BSc from The UWI, Mona, Jamaica. She brings to the position considerable working experience in the United States, Barbados and Jamaica.  Mrs. Francis-Cobley was a lecturer in Computer Science at the Cave Hill Campus for 17 years. During that time she developed two successful joint degree programmes in conjunction with the Faculty of Social Sciences. She has published several articles in journals and conference proceedings and has written a large number of technical reports and technical manuals. Her last position was that of Training Co-ordinator for UWI’s Open Campus, where she conducted numerous workshops and seminars using various online technologies.  

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.) 

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