University of the West Indies at Cave Hill


University of the West Indies at Cave Hill is a public research university in Cave Hill, Barbados. It is one of 5 general campuses in the University of the West Indies system.
It was the third campus to be established by the UWI System, following the Mona campus in Jamaica and the St. Augustine campus in Trinidad and Tobago. The Cave Hill campus is also the headquarters of the Open Campus, which is responsible for UWI programmes in the non-campus territories. The Cave Hill Campus has 5 faculties that teach at the undergraduate and graduate levels and conduct research across a range of disciplines. Codrington College, the oldest educational institution in the Caribbean, is affiliated with Cave Hill, while the School of Education works with Erdiston Teachers' Training College to provide pre-service and in-service training to teachers in Barbados and other parts of the Caribbean. Since 2004, the Cave Hill campus is the site of the West Indies Federal Archives Centre.

History

The university was founded in 1948, on the recommendation of the Asquith Commission through its sub-committee on the West Indies chaired by Sir James Irvine. The Asquith Commission had been established in 1943 to review the provision of higher education in the British colonies. Initially in a special relationship with the University of London, the then University College of the West Indies was seated at Mona, about five miles from Kingston, Jamaica.
The University College achieved independent university status in 1962. The St Augustine Campus in Trinidad, formerly the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture, was established in 1960.
Sir Arthur Lewis, then Vice-Chancellor of the independent UWI, wanted to expand the university beyond Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago to serve the "little eight" - the eastern Caribbean islands. The "little eight" comprised Grenada, Dominica, St. Kitts, and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Montserrat. These islands, smaller than either Jamaica or Trinidad and Tobago, had been members of the West Indies Federation but upon its dissolution, were isolated and in need of regional support. A proposal was developed and submitted in February 1963 to the University Council for a campus in Barbados. It was approved and was initially housed in a site near the Bridgetown Harbour. The Campus opened just over half a year later with 118 students. It subsequently moved to Cave Hill, its present location, in 1967. Initially, it was called the College of Arts and Sciences and received significant support from the Government of Barbados in the form of free university education for its citizens.

Enrolment, Graduation and Research Data

According to the , on 29 November 2016, there were 5,507 students on the Cave Hill Campus. This represented a 9% decline from the previous year, largely due to a change in policy by the Government of Barbados resulting in students having to pay university tuition fees. Previously, Barbadian students only had to pay limited charges. The Faculty of Social Studies had the largest enrolment, followed by the Faculty of Sciences and Technology, the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Medical Sciences and finally the Faculty of Humanities and Education. Graduate studies comprised 703 students.
In the 2015/16 academic year, 1,216 undergraduate degrees were awarded along with 473 postgraduate credentials for a grand total of 1,689 awards.
During the 2015/16 academic year, BD$268,402.79 was awarded by the Campus to postgraduate students for conference attendance and research. In the same year, BD$316,974 was provided to faculty members for research and attending conferences. Cave Hill faculty members published eleven books, 42 book chapters, thirty technical reports and 137 journal articles during this time.

Campus

The original, temporary campus, then known as the College of Arts and Science, was located at the Trade Fair site, at the Deep Water Harbour. The permanent campus was established in Cave Hill, St. Michael, with the foundation stone laid on 26 January 1966. The campus was designed by Captain William Tomlin and consists of a total of 39.7 ha. 17 ha overlooks the city of Bridgetown while a further 13 ha of adjacent land is situated with a view of the Caribbean Sea.
The campus has two other off-campus sites in progress. One is the Dukes Lands in the parish of St. Thomas. Activities at the Dukes Lands include training in various areas of agro-business, such as producing leather goods and manufacturing chocolate, research and support for entrepreneurial initiatives.
A second is an incubator for digital entrepreneurship in Bridgetown. It occupies the Mutual Building, the former headquarters of Sagicor Financial Corporation, from which UWI leased the building.

Faculties

In 2019, UWI Cave Hill was re-accredited by the Barbados Accreditation Council for the maximum term, ending in 2026.
The three UWI medical schools are accredited together, despite differences in curriculum, and are currently accredited with conditions by the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and other Health Professions.

Faculty of Humanities and Education

Departments

Specialised Units & Centres

Specialised Units & Centres

Departments

Departments

The Cave Hill Academy of Sport, now a unit of the new Faculty of Sport, provides a range of sporting activities for participants, nicknamed the UWI Blackbirds.
One popular artistic student group is the Cavite Chorale.

Campus Principals and Pro Vice-Chancellors