UWI at 70 | Mona leads in scholarship disbursements

The Mona campus of the University of the West Indies last year led the charts in the value of scholarships disbursed across its three main campuses, and their alumni and businesses were big donors.

Of the approximately $870 million disbursed, the Mona campus had annual scholarships valued at $757 million.

Pro vice-chancellor for undergraduate studies, as well as for access and quality, Professor Alan Cobley describes the scholarship disbursement as "very substantial".

He revealed that for Barbados' Cave Hill campus, the annual scholarships were valued around US$635,000 (J$85.7 million) while at the St Augustine campus in Trinidad and Tobago, US$186,000 (J$25.1 million) was disbursed.

"Even as we have been going through hard financial times across the Caribbean, as our budgets are being squeezed, one thing that has not shrunk is our scholarship funding," Cobley said.

According to the pro vice-chancellor, The UWI has worked very hard to continue offering scholarships.

"Our alumni and business houses across the region have stepped up and have increased their scholarship funding year-on-year, so it's been one of the real bright spots," he said.

Cobley said that this demonstrates that there is a very clear understanding that the region's brightest and best young people must attain a university education.

- L.S.

UWI 2017 scholarships facts:

*160 open scholarships were offered

*Seventeen CSEC/UWI scholarships awarded

*Board of Undergraduate Studies awarded US$340,000 in scholarships.

*A total of 324 students were supported regionally, including 152 donor-sponsored scholarships