September 2014


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Message from the Principal: Values in education – welcoming our new students

Each year during our Matriculation Ceremony, we welcome 5,000 new students, joining the 90,000 alumni who can boast of having attended The UWI. From its beginnings in Jamaica more than 60 years ago as a college with only 33 students, to its current status as the premier regional tertiary level institution with 40,000 students, this university has helped to build the Caribbean.

As we welcome the new members of our family, we try to instill a sense of our traditions, culture and the responsibility that comes with the privilege of reading for an undergraduate or graduate degree. It sometimes means trying to shift prevailing views about the role of education and institutions of higher learning.

While some may think that education is principally about attaining an academic qualification or certification, it is in fact much more than that. It is also about inculcating a set of core values that will help to shape responsible and exemplary citizens. Of course, high quality academic training is also extremely important to develop the intellectual and technical skills needed to succeed in a dynamic knowledge-driven world. But intellectual skills will not be enough; they must be complemented by values such as honesty, integrity, fairness, caring, discipline, resolve, diligence, humility, respect for the rule of law and for diversity. We must ensure that our graduates and students understand that what truly counts in life is not the title one holds, but the contribution one makes to society.

As we prepare for our next Matriculation ceremony on September 18, we are placing a renewed focus on developing those qualities in our new UWI family members; remembering that it is within the bosom of family that core values are truly nurtured.

Positive values and attitudes are considered intangible assets, which cannot be easily measured. However, nurturing these values within families and institutions like our UWI, is an important contribution to development and nation building and a responsibility that our university takes very seriously.

EDITORIAL TEAM

Campus Principal: Professor Clement Sankat
Director of Marketing and Communications: Dr. Dawn-Marie De Four-Gill
Editor: Ms Vaneisa Baksh [vaneisa.baksh@sta.uwi.edu]

Contact us:
The UWI Marketing and Communications Office
Tel: (868) 662-2002 exts. 82013, 83997
Email: uwitoday@sta.uwi.edu