Southern strategy

The UWI's new Ten-Point Plan includes a Southern Strategy, which focuses on penetration into Guyana and Suriname. The UWI has been invited to help drive forward Guyana's human resource development strategy by offering training to up to 20,000 nationals over the next five years, through The UWI Open Campus.

The university's increased presence in Guyana will represent an opportunity not only to help build a fellow CARICOM nation's capital infrastructure for economic, social and cultural development, but also to enhance its own reputation for excellence.

Furthermore, discussions are ongoing for the formation of a "UWI-UG Bridge" between The UWI and the University of Guyana, to promote regional integration and expand teaching and research capacity. This will ultimately lead to the creation of a Higher Education Hub in Guyana.

President of Guyana, Dr Irfaan Ali called upon The UWI to be "very aggressive" in producing the business plan that will allow it to deliver. He has identified all areas of human resource development that Guyana is urgently in need of.

In response, Vice-Chancellor Beckles has assured the President that The UWI sees Guyana as part of its environment. In fact, some decades ago, Guyana was once a contributing member of The UWI, but opted to take a different path for philosophical and ideological reasons.

Vice-Chancellor Beckles was excited by this "grand invitation" to enter Guyana to assist with its rebuilding process, thus helping the people of Guyana to meet their full potential as members of one of the most dynamic states in the region. He said, "This is as exciting as anything we have done in any region in the world, because we are on the margin of one of the largest societies, one of the biggest economies and, arguably, one of the most dynamic going forward."

In the words of Vice-Chancellor Beckles, the Caribbean is at "a moment of convergence", a point in its collective history in which intra-regional collaboration and mutual support will be the key to successful nation-building. The UWI's role in propelling the people of the region along a progressive path to prosperity has never been more important.