Cave Hill, Barbados: ‘Our Remit is to be the Caribbean campus within the UWI

Cave Hill @ 50 is an exhibition that recognises the maturity of the easternmost of University of the West Indies’ four campuses; one with maintains a strong regional emphasis.

While Cave Hill is located in Barbados, Principal Sir Hilary Beckles notes that more than a quarter of the students are from other parts of the Caribbean region, or from farther afield.  One example: most valedictorians in the past 10 years have been from parts of the region other than Barbados, though they have been chosen by the entire campus population, including the Barbadian majority. Sir Hilary visited the exhibition on May 3, while in Jamaica to launch his new book, Britain’s Black Debt. Listen to him by clicking on the arrow below:

Cave Hill was a force to be reckoned with from the get-go in 1963, when it started out as the College of Arts and Science with 118 students and four full-time academic staff. It evolved into a full-fledged university campus in 1970 and in 2013, has more than 8,690 students, 221 academic staff and 302 active programmes in five faculties.

The university has remained an important part of the Barbadian scene, and has played a part in development-oriented research at many levels. To quote Principal Beckles, “Cave Hill is the campus that is most accessible to the public so we always have to be proving ourselves; always doing something different. So there is a pressure to be innovative.”

UWI Vice Chancellor Nigel Harris and guest in the Cave Hill exhibition.

Cave Hill Principal Hilary Beckles with a re-creation of the iconic campus clock tower whose repair was one of his first priorities when he became principal a decade ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The exhibition looks at highlights of Cave Hill’s development, as part of our on-going focus on the history of the far-flung regional university.

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