News Releases

UWI St. Augustine celebrates its 53rd Founder’s Day

For Release Upon Receipt - October 10, 2013

St. Augustine


Celebrating more than 50 years of stellar research, teaching & learning                       

ST. AUGUSTINE, Trinidad & Tobago – On Saturday October 12, 2013, The University of the West Indies (UWI) St. Augustine Campus celebrates its 53rd Founders Day—the day in 1960 that saw the official establishment of the Campus.  

The UWI St. Augustine Campus had its beginnings as the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture (ICTA)—internationally renowned for its high quality of research conducted by top scientists in tropical agriculture. 53 years later, its incarnation, the St. Augustine Campus, is still among the region’s premiere institutes for tertiary education and research. In the decades since, the institution has vastly expanded its scope. 

In his message to staff, students and alumni, Campus Principal and Pro Vice-Chancellor, Professor Clement Sankat thanked them for their contributions. “From our humble beginnings in the study of Natural Sciences, we have added the Liberal Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences, Medical Sciences, Law, Science and Technology and Engineering to our repertoire of Faculties, and many of our graduates have gone on to become leaders in their fields,” he said. Professor Sankat added that the research conducted on the campus in cocoa, seismology, anthuriums and the fishing industry, for example, has proved invaluable to the development of Trinidad and Tobago, and demonstrates just how much the institution has accomplished. 

Sir Philip Sherlock, Founding Father and first Vice-Chancellor of The UWI, envisioned that the institution would “multiply opportunities for vertical mobility [of the West Indian peoples] and for access to ownership of property; increase West Indian capacity for the productive use of Science and Technology; provide the society with a corpus of knowledge based on research; and broaden the intellectual base that universal suffrage and political independence demanded.” 

Today, The UWI stands proudly as a landmark regional institution of higher learning. It is described as an icon of Caribbean integration and culture, and has a growing student population which spans all social categories and walks of life. This 53rd Founder’s Day is an occasion to remember the Campus’ humble beginnings, as the institution forges ahead along a path of continuous transformation, expansion and development.

 End 

PHOTOS

  1. The staff of the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture (ICTA) in 1952. The ICTA then went on to become The University of the West Indies St. Augustine Campus in 1962.
  2. The Main Administrative Building, described by Professor Emeritus Bridget Brereton as “Our Grand Old Admin Lady”
  3. First class of the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture in 1922

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, The 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. The 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. The 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, The 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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