It’s called an ‘Open Campus’ but it will be more like a virtual campus – allowing students to earn a degree from the University of the West Indies without ever stepping foot into a UWI classroom. Of course they hope you will attend some classes at UWI but the program is geared towards people already working who don’t have the time to attend classes. It is being launched as part of UWI’s 60th anniversary celebration. Details on the program were announced at a press conference this morning chaired by UWI’s vice-chancellor Professor Hazel Simmons McDonald.
Prof. Hazel Simmons-McDonald, Vice-Chancellor – UWI
“It is a campus that is supposed to be virtual in the sense that we are going to provide education via the internet facilities to anybody who can access the internet. But also, because of the existence of the School of Continuing Studies, like you have right here in Belize, this particular building, we have 42 sites, all over the Caribbean. Because of these it is not truly virtual exclusively. Its also going to offer the opportunity for people to take face to face programs and courses.
So we’re offering education in blended learning format, face to face, virtually, and so on and that is basically how we will be operating. So what the University is doing is bringing together former outreach sectors, which would be the Schools of Continuing Studies, the UWI Deck, and the Tertiary Level Institutions Unit which takes care of partnership arrangements for franchising with colleges and so on. Bringing those together under the administration of the ‘Open Campus’ to enable us to provide increased access to people who may not have been able to go to the established campuses before. So that is the main mission of it.”
Enrollment to attend the open campus is continuous and the cost varies. At this time the program does not include UWI’s law school. You will still need to earn 90 credits to graduate.
