Looking to boost UWI numbers

THE?UNIVERSITY of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill Campus is aiming to have 12 000 students by 2015.
The campus currently boasts a student population of about 10 000.
Pro-vice chancellor and principal Professor Sir Hilary Beckles said that during a recent chat with the Cabinet about the UWI, he said it was “the ideal model for a campus in this country”.
Speaking during the opening ceremony of Research Week at Cave Hill yesterday, Sir Hilary said with the model put into effect in another three years he was expecting the university to be on target.
He said of the 12 000 students, 20 per cent would be graduate students pursuing PhDs and master’s degrees.
“If we can construct that model, then we can proceed to establish that in a coherent way with respect to the allocation of the funding and we are on our way, because for the first time in the history of Cave Hill Campus, this Minister [of Education Ronald Jones] was able to pilot, through his Cabinet, the allocation of research funds for graduate research students,” he added.
In 2010, the university received $1 million from Government to support 15 research scholars, which covers a three-year period. Thirty scholars are currently benefiting from the grants.
The principal said the $2 million the institution received so far from Government would enable it to have “full-time research students”.