For Release Upon Receipt - September 23, 2008
St. Augustine
The University of the West Indies (UWI) and the Trinidad and Tobago Postal Corporation (TTPost) launched a commemorative stamp collection entitled “Celebrating Six Decades” at the Office of the Campus Principal, UWI St Augustine, on Friday 3rd October, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. The launch, which took place sixty years to the day the University welcomed its first group of students at Mona, Jamaica in 1948, is part of the University’s ongoing 60th Anniversary Celebrations.
TTPost formally presented the commemorative collection to UWI Registrar/Director of Administration, Mr. C. William Iton, UWI Pro Vice Chancellor and Campus Principal, Professor Clement Sankat, and Campus Librarian Designate, Ms. Jennifer Joseph..
The collection comprises 5 stamps, one souvenir sheet and a first day cover. It features a range of icons associated with the University, such as Her Royal Highness Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, the University’s first Chancellor; Sir William Arthur Lewis, the first West Indian Principal of the University College and first Vice Chancellor of the independent UWI; Sir Philip Sherlock, the first Principal of the UWI St Augustine Campus. The collection also includes images particularly associated with the St Augustine Campus, namely the Samaan Tree and the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture building (now commonly known as the ‘Old Administration Building’).
Framed collections will be made available at the National Mail Centre, Golden Grove Road, Piarco, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I. For information about the commemorative collection, e-mail phil@ttpost.net. For more information about the launch please contact our Office at marketing.communcations@sta.uwi.edu.
About UWI
The University of the West Indies is a contemporary, international tertiary education institution offering innovative programmes, modern facilities and collaborative links with over sixty institutions worldwide. The UWI is the largest internationally accredited university in the region, serving over 40,000 local, regional and international students. The largest and most longstanding higher education provider in the English-speaking Caribbean, UWI has a virtual Open Campus, 3 main physical 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. 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.
UWI Timeline
1948 The entry of 10 females and 23 males from across the region into the Faculty of Medicine at the Mona Campus, Jamaica marks the official opening of the University College of the West Indies
1960 The St Augustine Campus of the University College of the West Indies is established out of the former Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture in Trinidad.
1962 The University College of the West Indies becomes The University of the West Indies under the Great Seal of the Realm.
1963 The Cave Hill Campus in Barbados is established as the College of Arts & Sciences in temporary quarters at the Bridgetown Harbour (then familiarly known as the Harbour site).
2008 The Open Campus, an amalgamation of the previous Office of the Board for Non-Campus Countries and Distance Education (BNNCDE), the School of Continuing Studies (SCS), the UWI Distance Education Centre (UWIDEC), and the Tertiary Level Institutions Unit (TLIU), is officially launched.
Mrs Rhonda Jaipaul-O'Garro