News Releases

UWI launches 2021 Giving Campaign: in a post-pandemic environment, giving matters even more

For Release Upon Receipt - August 11, 2021

UWI


The UWI Regional Headquarters, Jamaica. Wednesday, August 11, 2021.—As the pandemic stretches on, thousands of the University’s students and their families continue to face economic uncertainty, and the need for financial aid is greater than ever. Despite these challenges, in crisis, our Pelicans continue to ‘give back’, demonstrating the exemplary leadership qualities needed to shape the post-COVID Caribbean.

Over 400 regional students at The UWI, Cave Hill Campus were hailed as heroes in May 2021, for their courageous fieldwork at the height of a COVID-19 resurgence in Barbados earlier this year. Hundreds of others at Mona, St Augustine, Five Islands and the Open Campus have volunteered in arranging donation drives, conducting contact tracing, providing supplementary support for doctors and nurses at hospitals, among other activities across the region. Our students embody the ideology that fine universities are not established and funded to serve themselves, but to engage the challenges facing their host communities; they are the Caribbean’s future problem solvers, researchers, innovators and philanthropists. 

Against this background, there is a growing risk of education inequality brought on by the onset of the pandemic, and the University needs the support of its alumni, partners, donors and friends to stem this emerging problem. With a renewed sense of purpose and urgency, on August 1, The UWI launched its annual crowdfunding campaign, UWI Global Giving, which will run for two months. 

Grounded in our vision to facilitate an access revolution in higher education in the Caribbean region, the University remains committed to leaving no student behind. We are calling on regional and international alumni, partners, the diaspora and friends to give to this important campaign. Every gift counts, you can contribute as little as US$10 online via www.uwi.edu/giving. 

Over the past five years, this giving campaign has become part of The UWI’s culture. Commenting on its significance at this critical time, Vice-Chancellor of The UWI, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles says, “This is an invitation to our graduates, corporate partners and friends to participate in providing resources. We urge you to give, not only to support the University to function with sophistication in teaching and learning, but particularly during this time towards helping students who may fall by the wayside through no fault of their own, but because of poverty and marginalisation. Let us do our best to avoid the risk of young people retreating from higher education as a result of the impact of COVID-19.” 

In many Caribbean territories, August 1 is observed as Emancipation Day, marking the freedom of enslaved Africans who were victims of the transatlantic slave trade. As the region takes small cautious steps to recover economically, The UWI recognises that education is one of the most critical means to freedom and propelling regional development by ensuring the future of the Caribbean's human resource capacity, so UWI Global Giving is themed “Emancipate, Educate, Donate.” 

The UWI had an extraordinarily successful fundraising year in 2020, during which the international and regional community stepped up to contribute over US$500,000 to support affected students. The 2021 campaign will focus once more on funding scholarships and bursaries for students in need. With The UWI’s new academic year and classes set to resume at the end of August, these contributions represent the foundation of academic continuity and will impact the lives of many students. 

Throughout August and September, persons interested in giving to The UWI are invited to visit www.uwi.edu/giving; those seeking more information, or who wish to make an alternative contribution to UWI Global Giving can contact the Institutional Advancement Division in the Office of the Vice-Chancellor at 876-977-0052 or email giving@alumni.uwi.edu. 

Follow, like and share the 2021 UWI Global Giving campaign on social media at the hashtags #GivetoUWI #UWIGlobalGiving and #UWIGG2021. 

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About The UWI

For over 70 years The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has provided service and leadership to the Caribbean region and wider world. The UWI has 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 and five campuses: Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago, Cave Hill in Barbados, Five Islands in Antigua and Barbuda and an Open Campus. As part of its robust globalization agenda, The UWI has established partnering centres with universities in North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe including the State University of New York (SUNY)-UWI Center for Leadership and Sustainable Development; the Canada-Caribbean 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; the Institute for Global African Affairs with the University of Johannesburg (UJ); The UWI-University of Havana Centre for Sustainable Development; The UWI-Coventry Institute for Industry-Academic Partnership with the University of Coventry and the Glasgow-Caribbean Centre for Development Research with the University of Glasgow.

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. The world’s most reputable ranking agency, Times Higher Education, has ranked The UWI among the top 600 universities in the world for 2019 and 2020, and the 40 best universities in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2018 and 2019, then top 20 in 2020. The UWI has been the only Caribbean-based university to make the prestigious lists.  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 “The”, hence The UWI.)

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