Office of the
Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal. Thursday, October 3, 2019 - Some
768 graduands from across 16 Caribbean countries will graduate from
The University of the West Indies (The UWI) Open Campus on Saturday,
October 12, 2019. The Presentation of Graduates Ceremony will be held
at the St.
John's Pentecostal Ministries, St John’s in Antigua starting at
10:00 am.

Of the graduands,
561 will receive undergraduate degrees, certificates and diplomas,
while 207 will receive postgraduate qualifications. Of the
undergraduate cohort, 343 will be awarded Bachelors of Science
degrees, 121 will receive Bachelors of Education degrees, 51 will
receive diplomas, 31 will receive Associates of Science degrees and
15 will receive certificates.

For the
postgraduates, 11 will receive Doctor of Education degrees, 138 will
be awarded Masters of Science, 20 Masters of Education, 18 Masters of
Arts and 20 graduate diplomas.

The number of First
Class Honours has increased significantly from 130 in 2018 to 170
this year. The number of graduands receiving Second Class Honours –
Upper Division has also increased from 152 in 2018 to 175 this year,
while the number of graduands receiving Second Class Honours –
Lower Division has decreased, from 82 last year to 78 this year.

In the postgraduate
category, two graduands will receive High Commendation, 92 will
graduate with distinction and 113 will graduate with a pass.

The BSc in
Management Studies with 149 graduands, followed by the BSc Accounting
with 62, the BSc Social Work with 57, and the BEd. Early Childhood
Development and Family Studies are the top four undergraduate
programmes. In the postgraduate category, the MSc Management Studies
with 93 graduands and the MSc Management and Education Leadership
with 33 graduands constitute the two leading programmes.

Graduands this year
range from age 21-years old to 65-years old with an average age of
37-years old.

During the
ceremony, The University of the West Indies will confer honorary
degree on Governor- General of St Kitts and Nevis, His Excellency Sir
Samuel Weymouth Tapley Seaton. He will receive the degree of Doctor
of Laws (LLD) for outstanding public service to his country. Dr
Francis Severin, UWI Open Campus Public Orator will read the citation
for Sir Tapley.

Chancellor of The
University of the West Indies, Mr Robert Bermudez will address the
graduation ceremony. The other address will be delivered by
the Class
of 2019 Valedictorian, Ms
Novenia Isaac, a student from
Dominica.

Heads
of State and Government, members of the University’s Executive
Management, other highly placed University and local government
officials, as well as family and friends of the graduands will be in
attendance. The public is invited
to share in the celebration live on UWItv at www.uwitv.org,
and on UWItv Channels
on the FLOW cable network across the Caribbean.

After
the official ceremony, the new graduates and their guests will
celebrate their academic achievements at an Official Reception hosted
by the Government and people of Antigua and Barbuda.

-End-

Captions:
Graph of types of
certifications awarded at graduate and postgraduate levels.

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 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.

(Please
note that the proper name of the university is The University of the
West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)