THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES, Cave Hill Campus, is “looking seriously” at establishing a campus in The City.
Principal Sir Hilary Beckles revealed this during the launch of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (BCCI) year of activities in celebration of their 185th anniversary.
Speaking at the historic George Washington House on Wednesday, Sir Hilary said such a development would bring life to Bridgetown.
“We are looking to see if we can secure a premise where we can begin teaching and training and professional development in The City,” he said.
“You can very well imagine if we succeed in securing a property and we have 3 000, 4 000 young people in The City between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.,” the principal stated.
He said that currently 6 000 people rushed out of Bridgetown on evenings to get to Cave Hill, but if they were able to stay there they would bring revenue to City businesses.
Sir Hilary suggested that Barbadians did not fully understand the worth of Bridgetown.
“I’m not sure that as Barbadians we have yet internalised the significance of City life and the potential of City living,” he said.
Earlier in his address the principal said the Cave Hill campus added tremendous value to the economic well-being of Barbados.
“Just in this recent month of May five conferences were held in Barbados under the auspices of the Cave Hill campus, and we brought in almost 3 000 tourists into this island,” he said.
Furthermore, Sir Hilary noted, the campus had earned more than US$21 million in foreign exchange for Barbados in three to four years through international contributions, endowments, research, scholarships and fellowships.
“It is often said that we’re just a producer of students, but we do a lot more for the development of the Barbados and regional economy,” he said. (NB)
