News Releases

UWI St Augustine Returns To On Campus Matriculation Ceremony

For Release Upon Receipt - September 17, 2022

St. Augustine


Dr Dawn-Marie De Four-Gill, Campus Registrar, The UWI St. Augustine Campus looks on as Ms. Solange Joseph, a first year Faculty of Law student, and graduate of the St. Augustine Girls High School signs the Matriculation Register. At right is Assistant Registrar, Ms. Simone Roberts.

ST. AUGUSTINE, Trinidad and Tobago. Saturday, September 17, 2022 – “As newly minted members of the St. Augustine Campus and the Student’s Guild, you are expected to take your civic responsibility seriously.  Become involved and invested in your community – here and/or where you live. Always remember the adage, to whom much is given, much is expected.”

Professor Rose-Marie Belle Antoine, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal of the St. Augustine Campus of The University of the West Indies (UWI), so cautioned first-year students of the St. Augustine Campus’ 2022 Matriculation and Welcome Ceremony held on Thursday, September 15, 2022, the first in-person ceremony after a two-year hiatus.

Professor Antoine further advised: “At St. Augustine, you will receive the skill sets and uncover vast reservoirs of excellence to begin the process of applying new knowledge to world problems. Through your total immersion in UWI life, you will make the connections and expand beyond previously insular horizons to see the beauty and grace in each Caribbean territory. As ‘One UWI’, you will continue to be the main unifying force of this One Caribbean, connected by much more than the Caribbean Sea but by an infinite wellspring of vitality that has survived slavery, indentureship, and colonialism”.

Dr Dawn-Marie De Four-Gill, Campus Registrar, told the packed audience that the Matriculation Ceremony is a decades-long tradition where new students are recognised as members of the academic community of The University of the West Indies; they sign the University register and recite the academic vow. They also witness their first Academic Procession with which the ceremony begins.

As part of their First Year Experience activities, hundreds of students planted food crop seeds and placed their names on the vessel containing their planted seed. The Campus Registrar confirmed that the Faculty of Food and Agriculture had already re-planted about 500 of these seeds. The students would be expected to support the growth of these crops by visiting the fields throughout their academic years. In their graduation year, the Campus - with the Faculty of Food and Agriculture – will host a Harvest where students would be invited to share the fruits of their labour.  

Other speakers included President of the Alumni Association Cheridan Woodruffe and President of the Guild of Students, Kobe Sandy.  In addition, there were performances by The UWI Arts Chorale, under the direction of Mr. Jessel Murray, Senior Lecturer and Head, Department of Creative and Festival Arts, as well as a spoken word presentation by Amílcar Sanatan, PhD. student in Cultural Studies and part-time Assistant Lecturer at the Institute for Gender and Development Studies.

Solange Joseph, a first year Faculty of Law student, and graduate of the St. Augustine Girls High School ceremoniously signed the Matriculation Register on behalf of the incoming cohort, to signify the adherence to the tenets of the Academic Vow and the pursuit of excellence.

The ceremony concluded with the joint lighting of “The Flame of Excellence” by Campus Principal Professor Rose-Marie Belle Antoine and Guild President Kobe Sandy, representing the union of the Campus administration and the student body, in support of new students.

END

Notes to Editor

View the entire ceremony here via The UWI St. Augustine Facebook Page

END

About The University of the West Indies

The UWI has been and continues to be a pivotal force in every aspect of Caribbean development; residing at the centre of all efforts to improve the well-being of people across the region.

From a university college of London in Jamaica with 33 medical students in 1948, The UWI is today an internationally respected, global 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 its Open Campus, and 10 global centres in partnership with universities in North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe.

The UWI offers over 800 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Culture, Creative and Performing Arts, Food and Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities and Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology, Social Sciences, and Sport. As the Caribbean’s leading university, it possesses the largest pool of Caribbean intellect and expertise committed to confronting the critical issues of our region and wider world.

The UWI has been consistently ranked among the top universities globally by the most reputable ranking agency, Times Higher Education (THE). In the latest World University Rankings 2022, released in September 2021, The UWI moved up an impressive 94 places from last year. In the current global field of some 30,000 universities and elite research institutes, The UWI stands among the top 1.5%.

The UWI is the only Caribbean-based university to make the prestigious lists since its debut in the rankings in 2018. In addition to its leading position in the Caribbean, it is also in the top 20 for Latin America and the Caribbean and the top 100 global Golden Age universities (between 50 and 80 years old).  The UWI is also featured among the leading universities on THE’s Impact Rankings for its response to the world’s biggest concerns, outlined in the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including Good Health and Wellbeing; Gender Equality and Climate Action.

For more, visit www.uwi.edu.

Contact