Attorney General Steadroy “Cutie” Benjamin, Minister of Education Michael Browne and other technicians from the Ministry of Education, Science & Technology are currently meeting with the General Council of the University of the West Indies (UWI) in Trinidad and Tobago.
Yesterday, a release from Benjamin’s office – the Ministry of Legal Affairs – informed the media that among the many topics to be discussed and settled during the meeting, is the establishment of the UWI fourth landed campus in Antigua and Barbuda.
A task force had previously been charged with examining and determining Antigua and Barbuda’s readiness to house the campus, located at Five Islands, and which would be the first UWI campus in the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) sub-region.
A wide cross section of residents in the region had put forward the argument that, despite UWI’s effort to make tertiary education available to all persons in the less developed countries who desire to pursue higher education, the OECS member states had been under-served by the university.
In this regard, the expectation is that the fourth landed campus in Antigua and Barbuda will fill that void and offer all OECS residents desirous of pursuing higher tertiary education the opportunity to do so.
The Government of Antigua says it has put measures in place to cater for all aspects of operations at the Five Islands campus, the release said.
During the meeting in Trinidad, Benjamin and Browne are expected to present the twin island’s case for housing the fourth landed campus of the UWI.
Currently, the UWI’s campuses are located in Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago.