News Releases

UWI St. Augustine Pivots to Full Virtual Delivery for New Academic Year

For Release Upon Receipt - August 16, 2020

St. Augustine


Campus Makes Adjustments in Light of New Restrictions

At yesterday's press conference called by Prime Minister, the Hon. Dr. Keith Rowley, the country was advised that teaching institutions will be closed through to December 31, 2020. In light of this, The University of the West Indies (The UWI) St. Augustine Campus announced on August 16 that it will move to fully virtual delivery for Semester 1 of the academic year 2020/2021, scheduled to begin on August 30.

In Internal Communique issued to staff and students on these new developments, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal Professor Brian Copeland underscored that the health and safety of our entire community remains the first priority. “I am confident that, by continuing to work together, we will ensure a healthy, safe, and successful start to the new academic year later this month,” he said.

The Campus Principal added that Deans and Heads of Departments will now make the necessary adjustments to fully pivot to online course delivery. This refers, in particular, to those modules that would normally have been delivered in a classroom setting. For those modules that are not amenable to online delivery and require students’ physical presence on campus, Deans and Heads of Departments will arrange for suitable alternative arrangements with teaching staff,  in keeping with established COVID-19 protocols. 

As the Campus makes these necessary adjustments,  the Campus Principal stated that the expectation is for full delivery of all administrative, technical and support services at the Campus. Access to the Campus during this time will be restricted to staff and authorised contractors. All administrative, technical and support services at the Campus will continue.

The Campus will share further updates in the coming days. All staff, students and other key stakeholders are encouraged to look out for email updates, and check the Campus COVID-19 website at https://sta.uwi.edu/covid19/ and UWI St. Augustine’s social media platforms.

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About The UWI

For more than 70 years The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has provided service and leadership to the Caribbean region and wider world. The UWI evolved from a university college of London in Jamaica with 33 medical students in 1948 to an internationally respected, regional university with near 50,000 students across five campuses: Cave Hill in Barbados; Five Islands in Antigua and Barbuda; Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago; and an Open Campus. Times Higher Education has ranked The UWI among the top 1,258 universities in world for 2019, and the 40 best universities in its Latin America Rankings for 2018 and 2019. The UWI is the only Caribbean-based university to make the prestigious lists.

As part of its robust globalization agenda, The UWI has established partnering centres with universities in North America, Latin America, Asia, and Africa including the State University of New York (SUNY)-UWI Center for Leadership and Sustainable Development; the Canada-Caribbean Studies Institute with Brock University; the Strategic Alliance for Hemispheric Development with Universidad de los Andes (UNIANDES); The UWI-China Institute of Information Technology, the University of Lagos (UNILAG)-UWI Institute of African and Diaspora Studies and the Institute for Global African Affairs with the University of Johannesburg (UJ). The UWI offers over 800 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Social Sciences and Sport. As the region’s premier research academy, The UWI’s foremost objective is driving the growth and development of the regional economy. For more, visit www.uwi.edu.

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of “The”)

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