News Releases

Appointments in UWI Open Campus Country Sites Division

For Release Upon Receipt - September 11, 2013

UWI


ST. AUGUSTINE, Trinidad & Tobago – The Open Campus Council of the University of the West Indies (UWI) has approved the following appointments within the revised structure of the Open Campus Country Sites (OCCS) division of The UWI Open Campus: Dr. Francis Severin has been appointed Director; Dr. Ian Austin and Mrs. Cheryl McDonald have been appointed Deputy Directors for Continuing and Professional Education, and Commercial Services respectively.

Dr. Francis Severin, a national of the Republic of Dominica, is the new Director of the OCCS, effective October 1, 2013. He brings extensive knowledge and experience to the position. For the past five years of the existence of The UWI Open Campus, he has worked as Head of Open Campus Dominica. During that period, Dr. Severin served as the first Public Orator for the Open Campus from 2009. In July 2012, Dr. Severin acted as Director of the OCCS, when Dr. Luz Longsworth transferred to Mona’s Western Jamaica Campus to lead operations there. He will assume the position of Director for four years in the first instance, as is the norm in the case of Deans.  Programme Officer, Mr. Felix Wilson, will have oversight of the Centre initially.

Dr. Ian Austin, Head of Open Campus Barbados will assume duties as Deputy Director, Continuing and Professional Education, OCCS, on November 1, 2013. Mrs. Cheryl McDonald-Sloley, Regional Coordinator for the Eastern Caribbean and Barbados, has been appointed Deputy Director, Commercial Services, OCCS, with effect from August 1, 2013. The Deputy Director positions are for three years in the first instance.

The OCCS is the section of the Open Campus that deals primarily with the academic and administrative activities in each of the 12 English-speaking countries of the Caribbean for The UWI. The OCCS is also responsible for similar activities at several country-wide sites across Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.                                                                      

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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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