Top-ranking UWI

The University of the West Indies (UWI) is the top tertiary institution in the Caribbean on the 2018 Times Higher Education ranking.

According to the index, of the 129 best universities in the Caribbean and Latin America, The UWI is ranked 37th.

"This phenomenal recognition by The Times is even more significant when it is recognised that there are dozens of colleges and universities in the region and Latin America that are older and have more financial resources than The UWI," said Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Hilary Beckles.

The Times had ranked the best 129 universities out of the more than 1,500 in Latin America and the Caribbean.

In 2015, The UWI began an aggressive strategy to enhance its global brand and reputation.

Beckles said that information relevant to hundreds of departments, dozens of faculties, institutes, and centres had to be identified, collated, and analysed.

"The concept of four campuses one university had to be made real for assessors," he said.

The UWI operates campuses in Mona, Jamaica; Cave Hill, Barbados; St Augustine, Trinidad; and an Open Campus.

"No university in the Caribbean has produced as much first-class academic research across as many disciplines, generating as much regional and global impact, and produced as many regionally and globally distinguished graduates and scholars who have won as many global academic awards, including Nobel prizes, as The UWI," Beckles said.

He said that at 70, The UWI should celebrate the legacy of its academics, chancellors, vice-chancellors, principals, management, and the membership of the community.

UWI rankings:

4th - global outreach and impact

26th - impact of academic research

37th - overall quality