News Releases

Edulink set to Enhance Caribbean Education

For Release Upon Receipt - May 19, 2009

St. Augustine


The University of the West Indies (UWI) and other Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the European Union Member States that are signatories to the 9th European Development Fund (EDF) are set to engage in an important collaborative undertaking through EDULINK. EDULINK is an initiative that funds cooperative projects between its members and the project entitled ‘Capacity Building for the Financial Sustainability of ACP Higher Education Institutions’ will be officially launched on Friday 22nd May, 2009, 10:00 a.m. at the Institute of Critical Thinking, Lecture Room 2, UWI, St. Augustine. The University of the West Indies (UWI) will spearhead this project and the Edulink network will include The University of Technology (Jamaica), The University of Mauritius, The University of Suriname, The University of Guyana, The University of Belize, The University of the South Pacific, and The University of Warwick.

This EDULINK-funded project involves strengthening the capacity of the member universities in the area of financial sustainability, through the design and implementation of a professional development programme on resource mobilisation. The project will help partner institutions to strengthen their competitiveness and enable ACP states through their universities to achieve sustainable development objectives and promote higher education as a means of reducing poverty.

The EDULINK project is intended to provide the tools to academic and administrative staff to help them generate revenue more effectively and create a shift from traditional sources of funding. It will also facilitate capacity building in research administration, use of technology, and the management of intellectual property.

With EDULINK, academic and administrative staff of all partner universities will be trained in revenue generation techniques with a focus on philanthropy, grantsmanship, commercialisation of research and business development. The project is also expected to result in the formulation of a professional development programme in resource mobilization and the establishment of a Virtual Office at which will provide guidance and manage the implementation of this project. The project will last for a period of twenty-four months.

For more information about EDULINK, please contact Dr. David Rampersad at David.Rampersad@sta.uwi.edu or (868) 645-2500 or Ms. Joy Cooblal at PcfIns.EDULINK@sta.uwi.edu or (868) 662-2002 Ext. 3551.

ABOUT UWI

Over the last six decades, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged University with over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest and most longstanding higher education provider in the English-speaking Caribbean, with main campuses in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, and Centres in Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Christopher (St Kitts) & Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent & the Grenadines. UWI recently launched its Open Campus, a virtual campus with over 50 physical site locations across the region, serving over 20 countries in the English-speaking Caribbean. UWI is an international university with faculty and students from over 40 countries and collaborative links with over 60 universities around the world. Through its seven Faculties, UWI offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Pure & Applied Sciences, Science and Agriculture, and Social Sciences.

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