‘UWI’ rated one of the top universities in the world

The University of the West Indies (UWI) has been rated as one of top universities in the world.

The ranking was given by Times Higher Education, formerly The Times Higher Education Supplement.

It is a weekly magazine based in London and reports specifically on news and issues related to higher education. It is the United Kingdom’s leading publication in its field.

Sir Hilary Beckles, vice chancellor at UWI spoke about the rating recently during a Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) event at the Methodist Church Hall in Kingstown.

Sir Hilary said that he was not surprised that out of 2000 universities in the Caribbean and Latin America, UWI ranked in the top three percent while of the 28,000 universities in the world, UWI is ranked in the top five per cent of the best.

The vice chancellor said that the rank must not only apply to the university because the university is an institution.

“That is to rank the intellectual capacity of the people of the Caribbean to rank it on a global scale. I was not surprised by the results that we were ranked number one out of a 100 universities in the Caribbean.

“And it is not about the university or the institution per say, it is about the output of the youth of this region because the intellectuals who contributed to the UWI, the vast majority of them did that brilliant creative work in their youth,” Sir Hilary stated.

He said that the legacy we have before us now was constructed by men and women in their youth but now we are at a crossroads.

In his address, Sir Hilary also praised Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves for his interest in making sure that the nation’s youth population is educated at the highest level.

“It is also good to be here in the presence of the world that is being shaped by prime minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves,” stated Sir Hilary who noted that Dr Gonsalves was his colleague as a lecturer at the Cave Hill Campus and a very good friend.

“I can share with you that I know of no prime minister in the Caribbean who would pick up the phone and call us at the UWI on a regular basis to say ‘I have two or three young people here who are very bright, but they have no resources. There must be something that the university can do for them’. I think I have received phone calls like that over 50 times and I have never once let him down,” revealed the vice chancellor.