A
surge in reputation recognition

Regional
Headquarters, Jamaica, Friday, 18 October 2019—
At
a media conference hosted at The University of the West Indies (The
UWI) Cave Hill Campus on October 17, Vice-Chancellor, of The UWI,
Professor Sir Hilary Beckles announced that the regional University
had climbed the Times Higher Education (THE) rankings, following its
debut last year. The UWI appears in the World University Rankings
2020 which includes almost 1,400 universities across 92 countries and
is still the only Caribbean University on the prestigious list.

In
2016, The UWI rolled out its five-year strategic plan (2017-2022)
built upon three pillars — Access
to tertiary education, Alignment
with
partners and stakeholders, and Agility
in effort. Themed Revitalizing
Caribbean Development,
this plan mobilizes the University to “rekindle and sustain
Caribbean Development.” Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Hilary
Beckles, in conceiving and rolling out this plan, which is known as
the “Triple
A Strategy”,
declared an immediate objective to “radically upgrade and globalize
the university’s performance reputation, and enhance its
international visibility and competitiveness.”

To achieve
this strategic objective, The UWI system prepared for its first
exposure and participation in comparative international rankings,
last year. It chose professional engagement with Times Higher
Education (THE), the most prestigious ranking agency and moved with
agility to become fully conversant with THE’s scientific
methodology — pillars of assessments, criteria for categorizing
performance, and the tabulation of scores. Critically, it called for
a purposeful effort to strengthen areas of weakness and enhance
traditional strengths.

The UWI’s debut THE ranking results
showcased the tremendous accumulated success of the University as a
legacy institution. With over 200 registered universities in the
Caribbean region, The UWI was ranked number one. Among more than 2000
registered universities in Latin America and the Caribbean, it ranked
in the top 3%; and in the top 5% among the 28,000 registered
universities globally.

With
these excellent results in last year’s ranking scheme, The UWI did
not rest on its laurels or muse upon its legacy. Rather, it moved to
strengthen its competitive position in key areas, particularly in
enhancing the international recognition of its published research.
This achievement is reflected in recognized global research citation
indices. The evidence of The UWI’s enhanced global visibility is
found in key areas such as its leadership and participation in
international projects. Additionally, its concerted efforts to expand
and deepen Industry-Academic partnerships was noted. Collectively,
these outputs showed that the University had made significant
strategic strides, with enhanced excellence, reflected in a surge in
reputation recognition. 

Within the context of these
developments, the just released THE 2020 results are even more
impressive. The enhanced respect the University gained for its
academic output and its alignment of effort with the development
objectives of the region was rewarded. 

Not only has The
UWI retained its position as the number one ranked university in the
region, in the Latin America and Caribbean region, it moved from the
top 3% to the top 2%. The scores for its global rankings show that it
moved from the top 5% to the top 4% of ranked universities.

“This
upward trajectory into the top 4% of the world’s best universities
reflects the extraordinary effort of the management team and The UWI
family to honour the pledge within the strategic plan to be an
excellent global university rooted in the Caribbean”, says
Vice-Chancellor Beckles. Specifically, the Vice-Chancellor added, “it
is the intention of the University to be located in the top 3% of
ranked universities by the end of the current strategic planning
cycle in 2023.” 

Vice-Chancellor Beckles concluded,
“The University has experienced a considerable rise in
self-confidence since participating in these global rankings.” The
UWI has an excellent Executive Management Team, and is focused on
sustaining its reputation revolution, while demonstrating daily proof
of greater efficiency and public accountability.”

He
expressed special gratitude to project leader, Pro Vice-Chancellor
Densil Williams and his technical team, and all members of community
who actively participated in the data gathering, focused on
implementation schedules, and framed the dialogue associated with
rankings as a tool of performance measurement. 

Describing
the ranking process, Pro Vice-Chancellor Williams made the comparison
that for the 2019 World University Rankings, there were 1,258
universities on the list, (The UWI placed at 591),
while for the 2020 World University Rankings 1,397 universities made
the list (The UWI came in at 571). “The UWI has moved significantly
up the trajectory,” he said. He further noted that The UWI has seen
significant movement in all THE’s criteria of teaching, research,
citations, industry income and international outlook. Importantly,
the regional university which is much smaller and less resourced than
many of its competitors on the list, received very high scores for
‘citations’ and ‘international outlook’ placing it among the
top 75 percentile of universities across the globe in those criteria.
“I am very confident,” he stated, “that going forward The UWI
will see better days. And given what we now know about our global
University, and the quality of work that we have been doing, I expect
us to continue to rise in the near future.”

Recently
appointed University Registrar, Dr. Maurice Smith, who served as
Chair of the media conference, commented that the THE’s rankings
have “placed us alongside the wealthiest and the best in some of
the biggest countries across the globe”. He added, “The rankings
show how we have been aligning ourselves with our strategic mission
to radically transform and improve The UWI’s regional and
international academic standing as an excellent global university
that is rooted in the Caribbean.”

Photo
Caption: L-R
are Professor Eudine Barriteau Pro Vice-Chancellor Principal at The
UWI Cave Hill, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, Vice-Chancellor of The
UWI and Professor Densil A. Williams Pro Vice-Chancellor
Academic-Industry Partnerships and Planning at the October 17 media
conference.

THE
World University Rankings 2020 complete list:https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2020/world-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats

THE
Latin America University Rankings 2019 complete
list:
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2019/latin-america-university-rankings#!/page/0/length/25/name/university%20of%20the%20west%20indies/sort_by/scores_citations/sort_order/asc/cols/undefined  

About
Times Higher Education

The
Times
Higher Education
World University Rankings, founded in 2004, provide the definitive
list of the world's best universities, evaluated across teaching,
research, international outlook, reputation and more. THE’s
data are trusted by governments and universities and are a vital
resource for students, helping them choose where to study. The Times
Higher Education World University Rankings 2020
includes almost 1,400 universities across 92 countries, standing as
the largest and most diverse university rankings ever to date. The
table is based on 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators that
measure an institution’s performance across teaching, research,
knowledge transfer and international outlook.
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/world-university-rankings-2020-methodology
and for more, see www.timeshighereducation.com

About
The UWI

For
over 70 years The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has
provided service and leadership to the Caribbean region and wider
world. The UWI has evolved from a university college of London in
Jamaica with 33 medical students in 1948 to an internationally
respected, regional university with near 50,000 students and five
campuses: Mona
in Jamaica, St.
Augustine
in Trinidad and Tobago, Cave
Hill in
Barbados, Five Islands
in Antigua and Barbuda and an Open Campus. As part of its robust
globalization agenda, The UWI has established partnering centres with
universities in North America, Latin America, Asia, and Africa
including the State
University of New York (SUNY)-UWI Center for Leadership and
Sustainable Development;
the Canada-Caribbean Studies Institute with Brock University; the
Strategic Alliance for Hemispheric Development with Universidad de
los Andes (UNIANDES); the UWI-China Institute of Information
Technology, the University of Lagos (UNILAG)-UWI Institute of African
and Diaspora Studies and the
Institute for Global African Affairs with the University of
Johannesburg (UJ).
The UWI offers over 800 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and
postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering,
Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science &
Technology, Social Sciences and Sport. 

As
the region’s premier research academy, The UWI’s foremost
objective is driving the growth and development of the regional
economy. The
world’s most reputable ranking agency, Times
Higher Education,
has ranked The UWI among the top 600 universities in the world for
2019 and 2020, and the 40 best universities in Latin America and the
Caribbean for 2018 and 2019. The
UWI has been the only Caribbean-based university to make the
prestigious lists. For more, visit www.uwi.edu.