The following is first of a series of monthly articles provided by the Open Campus of the University of the West Indies for the general information of students and other interested persons.

Hazel Simmons-McDonald

The Open Campus, the newest campus of UWI, was approved by the University Council in April 2007 and launched at the CARICOM Heads of Governments meeting in Antigua in July 2008. Its formation has been regarded as a bold decision of the University to redefine its outreach services in the context of a significantly developed global technological environment.

Formed by integrating the former Outreach departments, UWI Open offers programmes in blended format, online, dual mode and face-to-face modalities to those who qualify and wish to access tertiary education through the Internet. UWI Open is therefore virtual but it also has real nodes in the form of forty-two facilities in sixteen countries across the Caribbean.

UWI Open has spent much of the last two years transitioning to a well defined campus structure predicated on the functional imperatives needed for the efficient operation of such a campus. It has positioned Student Services at the Centre of its operations and has nine other offices that support its academic and administrative affairs. The concept of openness espoused by the campus seeks to present prospective students with opportunities to acquire certification required for entry to university thus enabling study at successively higher levels.

The Division of Academic Programming and Delivery, responsible for the development of courses, has designed several innovative programmes based on areas of need in countries served by UWI Open, while simultaneously undertaking curriculum review of existing courses and shaping them according to standards established by UWI for its online programmes. Some of these will be offered in academic year 2010.

The creation of the Open Campus represents the fourth Aim in the University’s 2007-2012 Strategic Plan, and the campus aims to achieve the seven specific objectives set for it. Those related to the incorporation of the campus into the University have been achieved while others necessary for its success, such as increasing access and creating a student-friendly learning environment, are being addressed consistently.

Mindful of the fact that the formation of the campus coincided with the onset of an economic downturn that has negatively affected the economies of the countries supporting the University, UWI Open has been striving to establish itself as a business enterprise that will become viable over time. In order to achieve this aim, it is positioning itself as a demand-driven enterprise which will deliver programmes that have been identified as being most needed by countries served by UWI.

Referred to as a campus for the times; a campus for the future, UWI Open is defining itself accordingly by making its operations more functional; providing more learner-friendly services; introducing state-of-the-art technological innovations, and promoting systems and programmes to ensure its continued relevance in the future. Its motto: online, onsite, on demand captures the intrinsic nature of the campus which, like similar tertiary level institutions in the region, represents the hope for transforming tertiary education offered via distance in a meaningful way for the benefit of Caribbean people.

Hazel Simmons-McDonald

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