SVG Global Campus ‘crown’ and ‘jewel’ says Sir Hilary Beckles

The UWI Global Campus St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) has been described as the “crown and the jewel of the Global Campus sites” and a worthy investment in regional education.

This was the view expressed by Vice Chancellor, UWI, Professor Hilary Beckles during the reopening ceremony to mark the completion of the expansion and renovation of the Kingstown site.

The ceremony, held on Friday, May 23, 2025 was attended by staff of the local and regional UWI campuses and other stakeholders in education.

Professor Beckles, in his remarks, noted that a decade ago there was much opposition with its Open Campus expansion plans.

“ [The] Region can’t afford it- ‘We can’t afford it’. We have a campus in Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad. We can’t afford any more. We can’t afford any more. This open campus is too expensive’. The budget was being slashed by one country. One country slashed the budget by 40 percent without notice. Can you imagine if one of your investor-country just slashed your budget by 40 percent without notice? So yes, the principal was struggling to pay wages… We went into retreat, and we came up with some ideas. And who did we go to for guidance? Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves ….”

Professor Beckles said despite the criticism, they pushed ahead with plans, with the vision of building out an institution that will advance tertiary education in the region.

“We said no,… we built a strategic plan, and the first pillar of that plan was more access for every man, woman and child in the Caribbean. That is more access, not less, more, and we converted the Open Campus into the Global Campus.

And here we are today, Global Campus… I am not surprised that this is the crown and the jewel of the Global Campus sites. This is it.”

Site Director, Dr Resa Noel-McBarnett said that the rebranding of the Open Campus to the Global Campus represented a “a strategic shift towards a more global focus and digital delivery of online programmes”.

Director, UWI Global Campus Sites Division, Dr Cheryl Sloley disclosed there has been a 92 percent increase in graduation numbers over the four year period, 2020 to 2024 for the SVG site, in addition to it being a revenue earner.

“It has also added to the financial coffers of the campus. I am happy to report… that earnings from the rental of this site for the first quarter of this year already stands in the region of 12,000 Barbados dollars, and this, I remind you, is not the mainstay of our business but adds to the income that is generated from tuition and other students fees and it is early days yet.”

Construction work on the site included the renovation of two existing single-storey buildings, the demolition and replacement of a single-storey structure with a new structure that incorporated a new first floor, offices, a conference room, meeting rooms, two classrooms, a video conference room, two computer labs, a library, lecture hall, cafeteria, student lounge, and an aqueduct to be restored as a commemorative space for the site’s historical past.

The renovation work was funded by the Caribbean Development Bank and carried out by contractor, Gibson Construction St Vincent. The project began in 2017, was completed in 2020 and the staff occupied the renovated spaces in 2022.