News Releases

Formal Induction of UWI St. Augustine Campus Principal on January 21

For Release Upon Receipt - January 10, 2023

St. Augustine


 

The UWI St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago. Monday, January 9, 2023 – The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has advised that the Induction Ceremony of Professor Rose-Marie Belle Antoine as Principal of the St. Augustine Campus will be held at 6.00 p.m. on January 21, 2023 at Daaga Auditorium on the St. Augustine Campus.

The Induction of the Campus Principal is a formal ceremony recognising new leadership and direction, and is the official act of the campus taking an historic step into its next chapter. The ceremony takes place after the official appointment is made and serves to recognise the Principal as the leader of the Campus. During the ceremony, the new Principal is formally endowed with the responsibilities of their appointment and invited by the Chancellor to deliver their inaugural address. It is a formal academic ceremony complete with an Academic Procession.

On being appointed to the role on August 1, 2022, The UWI Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Hilary Beckles noted her remarkable professional journey.

“She is a history maker and modern-day freedom fighter whose work has been transformational regionally and internationally. As the University and its respective campuses embark on a significant revolution, we are confident in the intellect and respect that she brings to lead at St Augustine. As a community, we share in celebrating this moment of personal and professional achievement for her, and welcome her with the fullest support”.

Professor Antoine’s UWI journey began in 1989, in the Faculty of Law, Cave-Hill as a Temporary Lecturer who became the inaugural Director and initiator of the successful Master of Law (LLM) programme, The UWI’s first multi-campus, hybrid delivery programme, launched in 2002.  She was one of the youngest UWI lecturers to be appointed to the rank of Professor, in 2004, and the first sitting Dean of the Faculty of Law, St. Augustine, serving two terms. In 2021, she was appointed Pro Vice-Chancellor, Graduate Studies and Research.

A UWI alumna, she has served as lead consultant to all of the Caribbean Community governments, Canada, UK, USA, and numerous international organisations, on a wide range of diverse issues. Her consultancies include the authoring of transformational reports on key issues of legal policy and development, drafting of new laws, advocacy, training and capacity-building of NGOs and the judiciary legal professionals.

Antoine is a Cambridge Pegasus Fellow, an Oxford and Commonwealth Scholar, and was named by the Caribbean Court of Justice in 2021 as a Pioneering Caribbean Women Eminent Jurist Awardee. Professor Antoine holds a doctorate from Oxford University in Offshore Financial Law and, in 2011, was elected by the OAS a Commissioner at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Washington; in 2014, she was elected President - the first person from Trinidad and Tobago. She served as the OAS Head of the Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights Unit and was appointed Rapporteur for Persons of African Descent and Rapporteur Against Discrimination and Rapporteur of Indigenous Peoples. She has served as a Temporary Court of Appeal Judge in the Commercial Division of the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal.

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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 inAntigua 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.

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

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