University of the West Indies

The University of the West Indies

Motto	Latin: Oriens Ex Occidente Lux
Motto in English	"A Light Rising From The West"
Type	Regional university, public, autonomous
Established	1948; 76 years ago (1948)
Chancellor	Robert Bermudez
Vice-Chancellor	Hilary Beckles
Academic staff	1,200
Students	near 50,000 (across 5 campuses)[1]
Campus	Mona, Jamaica (headquarters)
Colors
Affiliations	Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) Caribbean Community
Mascot	The Pelican
Website	UWI Regional Headquarters UWI Cave Hill UWI St. Augustine UWI Mona UWI Open Campus UWI Five Islands Campus

The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies,^[2][3] is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turks and Caicos Islands. Each country is either a member of the Commonwealth of Nations or a British Overseas Territory.

The UWI campus in Mona, Jamaica, serves as the headquarters of the University Of The West Indies. Besides UWI Mona,^[4] the University has four major university centres: UWI Cave Hill (Barbados), UWI St. Augustine (Trinidad and Tobago), UWI Five Islands (Antigua and Barbuda), and the regional UWI Open Campus in the UWI-funding Caribbean nations.

The aim of the university is to help "unlock the potential for economic and cultural growth" in the West Indies, thus allowing improved regional autonomy.^[5] The university was originally instituted as an independent external college of the University of London.^[6]

The university has produced students who have excelled in a number of disciplines, such as the arts and sciences, business, politics, and sports. Notable alumni and faculty include three Nobel Laureates,^[7][8] 72 Rhodes Scholars, three Gates Cambridge Scholarship winners, one Emmy award winner,^[9] one Man Booker Prize winner, one American Book Award winner, multiple Commonwealth Short Story Prize winners, 18 current or former Caribbean Heads of Government, two Olympic gold medallists, among other award winners. The university's cricket team previously participated in West Indian domestic cricket, but now participates as part of a Combined Campuses and Colleges team.