University of the West Indies

In 1943 the Vice Chancellors of United Kingdom Universities convened a special commission to “consider the principles which should guide the promotion of higher education, learning and research… in the colonies.” The recommendations of that commission saw a Royal Charter formally establishing what was then the University College of the West Indies in 1948. The University of the West Indies which today boasts of being one of only two regional higher education institutions in the world began with one campus (Mona, Jamaica) at the historic Gibraltar World War II Camp acquired at a cost of £12,000. In 1960 The UWI’s second campus at St. Augustine was born out of a merger between the University College and the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture (IATA) in the island of Trinidad. The two campus College remained affiliated with the University of London until 1962 when it became The University of the West Indies, an institution in its own right with the privilege of granting its own degrees. What is today known as The Cave Hill Campus of The University of the West Indies started in 1963 as the College of Arts & Sciences in temporary quarters at the Bridgetown Harbour. On October 16, 1967 the College of Arts and Science at Barbados opened the academic year at the new university buildings at Cave Hill, on a 45 acre site provided by the Government of Barbados. With the establishment of the Faculty of Law in 1970, the name of the Caribbean College was changed to the Cave Hill Campus of The University of the West Indies.