Message from the Principal: Our 7th Faculty is here
 On April 15, we commemorated the establishment of the Faculty of Law at our St Augustine Campus. For me, it was the realization of a vision rooted in both practical considerations of access and responsiveness and a deep sense of honour and respect for the legal profession in Trinidad and Tobago.
Early in my career as Principal, I realized there was an overwhelming need to treat with the demand for places by T&T nationals for the LLB programme. The Faculty of Law at Cave Hill had served us well, but the typical enrolment of T&T nationals in its LLB programme was 40-50 students. The pool of applicants was more than 1000. Thus, if we were going to meet the huge demands for legal university education—we had to establish a Faculty of Law at St Augustine, as Mona did in 2010-11. I thank our Vice-Chancellor, Professor E. Nigel Harris for supporting us in this decision, a challenging one within a regional university system.
Last October, this campus celebrated its first 70 LLB graduates from our new Faculty of Law, which became operational in August 2012. To get to this stage, we had to build new facilities at St Augustine to accommodate more students and new staff; this included the Noor Hassanali Law Auditorium. The Faculty of Law now has 139 students in year one; 86 in year two; and 99 in year three.
Committed to extending our reach into south Trinidad, the University Council agreed in 2011 to establish The UWI St Augustine South Campus in Penal-Debe—an extremely scenic and pristine environment that is conducive to scholarly pursuits and which will be the home of our flagship Faculty of Law. The facilities there will be on par with those of leading universities for the conduct of teaching, research and service to support legal education.
There are three ingredients to build a great Faculty of Law: outstanding students, a dedicated faculty of scholars and practitioners, and a supportive environment for teaching, learning, research, critical thought and service. We are putting these elements in place.
My hope is that this new Faculty will alter the landscape of the legal profession in a way that is tangible, strengthening the foundation of our young democracy and protecting the rights of all citizens, particularly the vulnerable. In so doing, The UWI continues to strengthen its contribution to the development of Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean.
[[Principal's Address at Law Faculty Launch]]
EDITORIAL TEAM
Campus Principal: Professor Clement Sankat
Director of Marketing and Communications: Mrs. Dawn-Marie De
Four-Gill
Editor: Mrs. Dawn-Marie De
Four-Gill
Contact us:
The UWI Marketing and Communications Office
Tel: (868) 662-2002 exts. 82013, 83997
Email: uwitoday@sta.uwi.edu
|
