The entire Cabinet of Antigua and Barbuda was involved in discussions concerning matters which could possibly delay the opening of the University of the West Indies’ (UWI) Fourth Landed Campus in Antigua, which is set for September 2019.
“There is only one factor which could delay the opening of the University of the West Indies,” Information Minister Melford Nicholas said at Thursday’s Cabinet press conference. “The only thing that could delay the opening — and it won’t delay because the entire Cabinet was involved in the discussion yesterday — was the IT infrastructure.”
The matter was
among the agenda items discussed in Cabinet on Wednesday.
According to the weekly Cabinet notes, Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, Sir Hilary Beckles, was invited to Cabinet to announce the pending decision of the Accreditation Council.
According to the government, the Five Islands Campus is to be approved when the Accreditation Council meets in the next two weeks. The Council is to determine the amount of funds that will be required annually, and this is likely to be met by the Antigua and Barbuda authorities.
It also stated that the infrastructure is in place to meet the tailored financial capabilities.
Bachelor’s degrees are to be offered during the first three years of the campus’s operations, while master’s degrees and PhDs will be added later for certain disciplines.