News Releases

Brainstorming, not brainwashing, at CHOGM critical thinking session

For Release Upon Receipt - October 21, 2009

St. Augustine


Why did the British Empire become the Commonwealth of Nations?  What are the key differences between today and the period when the Commonwealth originated?  How do these differences argue for a different Commonwealth or no Commonwealth at all today?  What, then, are arguable reasons for the continuation or discontinuation of the Commonwealth? 

These are some of the questions that sixty upper secondary school students will explore in a session of critical thinking on the Commonwealth and CHOGM 2009 to be hosted by The University of the West Indies (UWI) Institute of International Relations (IIR) on Thursday 22nd October, 2009. CHOGM is the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting to be held in Trinidad and Tobago from November 27th to 29th.

“The session is intended to be a brainstorming rather than a brainwashing opportunity,” said an official release from The UWI IIR. The session is conceived as an opportunity for critical thinking on CHOGM, rather than merely a forum to inform participants about CHOGM and the Commonwealth.

Panelists include Professor Timothy Shaw, the IIR Director who has written a recent book on the Commonwealth; Ulric Cross, a board member of the Commonwealth Foundation; Felipe Noguera, Communications Specialist involved in CHOGM 2009; and Dennis McComie, spokesperson for CHOGM 2009.

 

For more UWI News, click http://sta.uwi.edu/news.

 

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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