News Releases

EC$284,000 Raised at UWI Global Giving Week Launch in Antigua and Barbuda

For Release Upon Receipt - July 26, 2016

St. Augustine


The UWI Open Campus, Antigua and Barbuda. 26 July 2016. The Global Giving Week campaign launched by the University of The West Indies (The UWI) has been steadily gaining momentum with awareness events across the region.  The most recent was hosted by the University’s Open Campus site in Antigua and Barbuda on July 12, 2016, under the distinguished patronage of the island’s Governor General, His Excellency, Sir Rodney Williams. A total of EC$284,000 was raised at the event.   

UWI Global Giving Week, (carded for August 1-7, 2016) is a fundraising model aimed at increasing The UWI’s drive for self-sufficiency under the theme Emancipate. Educate. Donate. This inaugural year marks the beginning of what is hoped will become an annual tradition. The objective is to cultivate support and engage alumni to give back to their alma mater and also encourage other supporters of The UWI to give generously to enable the institution to continue to play an integral role in regional development through education and research.  

In attendance at the Antigua and Barbuda launch was the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of The UWI Open Campus, Dr Luz Longsworth who addressed the nearly one hundred guests, appealing to them to give generously. Similar messages were also delivered by UWI Chancellor, Sir George Alleyne and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles by video. UWI alumnus and area patron for the campaign, His Excellency, Sir Rodney Williams, initiated the official contributions on the evening, with a personal donation of EC$2,700. This was followed by donations of EC$2,700 and EC$5,000 from The UWI Open Campus Guild of Students and The UWI Alumni – Antigua and Barbuda Chapter respectively.  

The top donation, a medical scholarship valued at EC$270,000.00 was presented to Dr Luz Longsworth by Ms Catherine Macdonald, a representative of EduFi MD. In her remarks, Mrs. Macdonald expressed her delight, on behalf of EduFi MD, to answer the call to support The UWI with the establishment of the Sir Rodney Williams Scholarship in Medicine. Each year, the scholarship will enable a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda to undertake the study of medicine at the University’s Mona Campus in Jamaica. The scholarship will be awarded on the basis of academic excellence combined with proven community leadership skills, and an expressed commitment from the recipient to return to Antigua and Barbuda after internship to practice medicine. 

Global Giving Week has already been launched at The UWI’s campuses in Mona, Jamaica, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Cave Hill, Barbados, and the Open Campus sites in Belize and Saint Lucia. Launches across other Open Campus sites will continue garnering support leading up to August 1.

 

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About The UWI Giving Week

The annual UWI Global Giving Week initiative is intended to be a frontline programme in a campaign aimed at developing the culture of philanthropy toward regional development. A series of campus specific launch events have successfully set the stage for the August 01-07 Giving Week, engaging and introducing community members, alumni, friends of The UWI, donor organisations and private sector organisations to the Emancipate, Educate and Donate theme for the programme which coincides with region-wide activities marking Emancipation. Proceeds of the UWI Global Giving Week programme will go toward funding students, research, facilities and equipment, construction and maintenance of residence halls as well as faculty and sport programmes across the institution.  For more information on the annual UWI Global Giving Week visit www.uwi.edu/giving.

 

About The UWI

Since its inception in 1948, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged, regional University with well over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest, most longstanding higher education provider in the Commonwealth Caribbean, with four campuses in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Open Campus. The UWI has faculty and students from more than 40 countries and collaborative links with 160 universities globally; it offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology and Social Sciences. UWI’s seven priority focal areas are linked closely to the priorities identified by CARICOM and take into account such over-arching areas of concern to the region as environmental issues, health and wellness, gender equity and the critical importance of innovation. For more information, visit http://www.uwi.edu/

 

(Please note that the proper name of the University is The University of the West Indies, hence The UWI)

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