$26.7m in scholarship funding for UWI Mona students

The University of The West Indies (UWI), Mona campus hosted seven members of the American Foundation of the University of the West Indies (AFUWI) Board of Trustees on their recent visit to Jamaica in October. The visit culminated in a donation of more than $26 million in scholarships for UWI Mona students. The board also met with the senior management of the campus to hold a round of talks on how the foundation can further support the university.

The New York-based foundation is a charitable organisation recognised for its work in fundraising, its transformational leadership, and advocacy and facilitation of higher education among nationals in the Caribbean. It has, over the past 10 years, provided more than 500 scholarships to students across the Caribbean. AFUWI has also facilitated the donation of more than $7.5 million in goods and brokered multiple relationships with other institutions.

The delegation benefited from a series of presentations from key members of the senior management team, including the deans of the faculties. The delegation also led student engagement activities, where they made presentations to student groupings from the Faculties of Social Sciences and Medical Sciences in town hall-style events at the Mona School of Business and Management and the Hugh Wynter Fertility Management Unit. The events were an opportunity for the board members to share information on their respective professions as well as their wealth of experience, thus providing useful insights for students prospecting such professions. The team, comprising professionals in the areas of business/entrepreneurship; investment and finance; auditing; accounting; higher education; medicine; human resources/talent management, among others, shared their opinions on practices and policies related to work experience in a developed market like the USA.

In addressing the AFUWI team, Pro Vice-Chancellor and principal of the Mona campus, Professor Dale Webber thanked the delegation for visiting the institution and for engaging the students. He highlighted the fact that the university continues to explore opportunities for collaboration with institutions of higher learning in the USA in the form of exchange programmes and other educational opportunities, such as international scholarships. AFUWI, he said, “has always supported our mission and vision to be a global university rooted in the Caribbean, and this includes improving access for our students. AFUWI has an important role to play in creating the appropriate environment for us to get more support for our students regionally and throughout the diaspora. To achieve this, they have sought to align the needs of the university with their strategic objectives and, by extension, their mission – and for this we are grateful”.

Align our mission

Speaking to the strategic objectives of AFUWI, board member Dr Hazel Carter said, “One of the main goals is to align our mission and our vision with the needs of The UWI. Very often, foundations may have their own particular goals and might not be in sync with the organisations that seek funding. We see ourselves as part of the university, and we are also the representative of the university in North America. One of our main goals is to ensure that students can continue their work at the university, so scholarships are one of the major things that we do.

“Coming from this visit, we need to go back and do a little more soul-searching in terms of ways we can assist the university more. The main thing is to ensure that what we do, is what you would like us to do; and to create more of a presence for the university, not just in New York, but North America,” Dr Carter said.

Echoing Carter’s sentiments was board member Lyenda Simpson-Delp, who noted, “It’s clear there is a passion to be recognised as a body looking to support this important institution in our region. It’s an institution that all Caribbean people should be proud of. The UWI impacts the region and spawns leaders who go off and have a greater impact, not only in the region, but across the world.

“What we want to be known as is a foundation that contributes to that, and that helps the institution to achieve its goal, whether long-term or short-term. This includes benefiting students, especially those who need financial support to complete their studies and those in the broader community, such as hurricane victims and victims of other natural disasters who are sometimes displaced. We want to have a big impact because we care so much about this institution,” Simpson-Delp said.

Following this event, the delegation was treated to a tour of the Mona campus, which included the University Chapel and The UWI Museum.

The funds from this donation, and others before, can be accessed by all students through the Office of Student Financing at https://www.mona.uwi.edu/osf/general-financial-assistance.