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The UWI and South Africa’s North-West University Sign Historic MOU

For Release Upon Receipt - March 6, 2024

UWI


 The UWI, Regional Headquarters, Jamaica. Wednesday March 6, 2024—Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, Vice-Chancellor of The University of the West Indies has hailed the recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with South Africa’s North-West University as “historic and emotional”.

 Commenting on the partnership between The UWI and North-West University, he referenced the Caribbean's close bond with South Africa, saying, “…we were in the trenches with you in the fight against Apartheid”. Vice-Chancellor Beckles pointed to similarities between the two universities being multi-campus academies, noting that The UWI serves across five campuses and North-West possesses three. He also noted similarities between the demographic and student population size as well as the universities’ commitment to quality delivery and formal global institutional accreditation.

 The MOU established a framework for collaboration between the two institutions for activities such as exchanges of students and academic staff, capacity building, joint research, publications, seminars, conferences, public lectures and the development and delivery of courses.

 Professor Bismark Tyobeka, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of North-West University said that his university was “proud to be associated with The UWI, which shared similar aspirations to be a world-class university with significant global ranking".

 North-West University was formed in 2004 by the merger of the historically black university of the North-West, the Sebokeng Campus of the historically black Vista University and the historically white Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education. Its formation in the post-South Africa- Apartheid is seen as “a strong symbolic act of reconciliation and nation building”.

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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 center of all efforts to improve the well-being of people across the region for over 75 years.

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

 The UWI offers over 1000 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 the wider world.

 The UWI has been consistently ranked among the best in the world by the most reputable ranking agency, Times Higher Education (THE). Since The UWI’s 2018 debut in THE’s rankings, it has performed well in multiple schemes—among them including World University Rankings, Golden Age University Rankings (between 50 and 80 years old), Latin America Rankings, and the 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 Well-being; Gender Equality and Climate Action.

 Learn more at www.uwi.edu   

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