News Releases

UWI and China sign new Memorandum of Agreement

For Release Upon Receipt - December 14, 2010

St. Augustine


St Augustine Campus to promote Chinese language and culture

A new Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) has been signed between the Republic of China and The University of the West Indies (UWI).

The new three-year MoA, between the Confucius Institute of the People’s Republic of China and The UWI St Augustine Campus, provides for instructors from the Confucius Institute to teach Mandarin language and promote Chinese culture through The UWI Centre for Language Learning (CLL). Through the MoA, the Government of China will provide a Lecturer in Mandarin Chinese to The UWI CLL for a period of three years, starting in January 2011. 

The MoA was signed on Friday 10th December, 2010 by His Excellency, Mr Yang Youming, Ambassador for the People’s Republic of China in the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago and Professor Clement K. Sankat, UWI Pro Vice Chancellor and St Augustine Campus Principal.

Ambassador Youming made an official visit to The UWI St Augustine Campus to sign the official documents. Principal Sankat greeted the Ambassador and his team and escorted them to his Board Room where the official signing took place.

Also representing the Chinese Republic at the historic signing were Wang Jianqun, Counsellor in the Chinese Embassy and Li Xuda, Second Secretary of the Chinese Embassy. The St Augustine Campus was represented by Mr Sharan Singh, Director of the International Office, Professor Funso Aiyejina, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Education, Dr Beverley-Ann Carter, Director of the Centre for Language Learning (CLL) and Dr Linda Steele, Assistant Registrar (Appointments).

The UWI MoA comes against the backdrop of wider diplomatic engagement between the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, who recently partnered to bring the world renowned Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe. The troupe put on a special performance at The UWI St Augustine Campus. 

The UWI Institute of International Relations also recently hosted a visiting delegation of Chinese academics, led by Ambassador Youming. In addition, UWI has signed an agreement with the Crops Research Institute of Guangdong to engage in collaborative research in crop sciences, with the aim of addressing food security challenges facing the country and the wider Caribbean region. New academic and cultural collaborations are currently being explored for 2011.

For more information, please contact the International Office, Second Floor, Student Administration Building, St. Augustine Campus, at internationaloffice@sta.uwi.edu or (868) 663-3348.

For the latest 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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