University of the West Indies

The University of the West Indies is spread over four campuses in three Caribbean islands. These are the Mona Campus in Jamaica, The Cave Hill Campus in Barbados, The Distance Education Centre, Barbados and the St. Augustine Campus in Trinidad and Tobago.

The University offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the Humanities and Education, Law, Pure and Applied Sciences and Social Sciences, as well as clinical and postgraduate programmes in Medicine.

Academic programmes are arranged in departments, which cover one or more subject areas, e.g. Language, Literature and Linguistics; Biological and Chemical Sciences; Government, Sociology and Social Work and so on. The range of subjects, which may be combined in a degree option is fairly wide and may cut across disciplines, departments and faculties, e.g. Sociology and Law, History and Political Science, Computer Science and Management.

The University operates a two-term system based on a credit scheme. In most faculties students are required to complete 90 credits towards the degree.

Ordinarily, students who possess at least two GCE Advanced Level certificates or equivalent complete their undergraduate degree programme in three years of full-time study.

The University offers Undergraduate degree programmes, Undergraduate courses and the UWI Summer School.

The Faculty of Humanities and Education offer a BA with majors in either English, History, Spanish, French, Linguistics, Psychology, Philosophy and Majors may be taken in conjunction with other subjects such as Law, Management Studies, Political Science, Economics, Education and Theology (in collaboration with Codrington College an affiliated Theological College).

The Faculty of Law LL.B. degree programme is available at the Cave Hill Campus, Mona Campus and St. Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies and the University of Guyana. The second and third year of the programmes are offered at Cave Hill Campus only.

Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences offer a B.Sc with Majors in Biology, Microbiology, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Computer Science, Electronics, Mathematics, and Physics. Minors are offered in Economics, Accounting, Management Studies, Sociology, and Education. Specific options are available for Computer Science and Accounting, Computer Science and Management, Information Technology and Accounting, and Information Technology and Management.

Faculty of Social Sciences offer a B.Sc degree with Specials, Majors and Minors in Accounting, Sociology, Economics, History, Law, Mathematics, Public Sector Management, Management Studies, Political Science, Psychology, Hotel Management, Tourism Management, Social Sciences, Social Work, Hospitality and Tourism Management, Hotel/Tourism Management, Hospitality/Tourism Management – third and fourth years only. First and Second years offered at the Barbados Community College.

The University of the West Indies offers Bachelors’ degrees, B. A., B. Ed., B. Sc., LL. B. which involve three years of full-time study from ‘A’ Level entry.

Entrants to the Preliminary Year programme offered by the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences follow a four-year degree programme and may transfer to other Faculties.

Undergraduate degrees are offered in the Honours classifications of First Class, Upper and Lower Second Class, in addition to a Pass degree.

Degree programmes make provision for specialist as well as more general options but the title Specialist Degree is used in Pure and Applied Sciences only.

Certificates are awarded for work at the undergraduate level not covering the degree programme.

The term Diploma is usually reserved for the one-year postgraduate programme, but is occasionally used for one to which non-graduates are admitted, based on experience in the field.

Higher degrees, such as the M. A./M. Sc./M. Ed./LLM are normally based on one or two years of full-time study and involve coursework and a Research paper or Thesis, while the M.Phil is normally a two year research degree. The Ph.D. is normally a three-year research degree.

The UWI Summer school offers courses through the Faculty of Humanities & Education in Fundamentals of Written English, English for Academic Purposes, Rhetoric I: The Writing Process, Rhetoric II: Writing for Special Purposes, Basic French, Sociology of Language, Sociolinguistics, Caribbean Dialectology, Creole Linguistics, African Prose Fiction, West Indian Literary Classics I, West Indian Literature: Spec. Auth Seminar, Basic Spanish, Department of History and Philosophy, Caribbean Civilization, History of the West Indies I, History of the West Indies II, Protest Movements in the British Caribbean, Women in 20 th Century Africa, Field School in Archaeology, Advanced Field School in Archaeology, Critical Thinking and Informal Logic, Philosophy of Sex and Love, School of Education, Introduction to Psychology, Introduction to Social Psychology, Learning Theory and Practice, Introduction to Curriculum Theory, Planning and Practice, Introduction to Research Methods in Education.

Through the Faculty of Pure & Applied Sciences there are Summer School courses available in Introductory Biochemistry, Biology I, Biology II, Biodiversity I, Biodiversity II, Introductory Genetics, Preliminary Chemistry I, Preliminary Chemistry II, Fundamentals of Chemistry, Introductory Chemistry, Organic Chemistry I.

Through the Department of Computer Science, Mathematics and Physics courses at the Summer School offers are Computer Programming I, Computer Programming II, Discrete Mathematics, Information Structures, Operating Systems, Software Engineering II, Database Management Systems, Computer Research Project, Circuit Analysis, Digital Electronics, Basic Electronics, Preliminary Mathematics I, Preliminary Mathematics II, Basic Introductory Mathematics (S1), Applied Statistics, Calculus I, Calculus II, Abstract Algebra, Linear Algebra, Analysis and Methods, Ordinary Differential Equations, Introduction to Probability, Mathematics Statistics, Preliminary Physics I, Preliminary Physics II, Mechanics, Electricity & Magnetism, Optics, Thermodynamics & Modern Physics, and Introduction to Quantum Theory & Relativity.

The Faculty of Social Sciences offers Summer School courses in Introduction to Microeconomics, Maths for Social Sciences I, Maths for Social Sciences II, Introductory Statistics, Intermediate Microeconomics I, Intermediate Microeconomics II, Statistical Methods I, The Caribbean Economy, International Finance, Economics of Financial Institutions, Econometrics I

The Department of Government, Sociology, Social Work and Psychology offer Summer School courses in Law, Governance and Society, Introduction to Caribbean Politics, Politics of Developing Nations, Introduction to Social Psychology, Fundamentals of Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Introduction to Sociology I, The Logic of Social Inquiry, Classical Social Theory, Qualitative Research Methods, Survey and Design Analysis, Caribbean Social Policy, Criminology, Social Gerontology, Drugs and Society, Human Behaviour in the Social Environment, Introduction to Social Work, Department of Management Studies, Introduction to Financial Accounting, Introduction to Cost and Management Accounting, Financial Accounting I, Financial Accounting II, Management Accounting, Cost and Management Accounting, Advanced Accounting Theory, Principles of Auditing, Introduction to Computers, Principles of Marketing, Microcomputer Applications for Business
Management Information Systems I, Organisational Behaviour, Managerial Economics, Business Law I, Productions and Operations Management, Management Information Systems II, Human Resources Management, Industrial Relations, Business Strategy and Policy,
Business, Government and Society, International Tourism
and Tourism Management.

For further information on the courses available at Cave Hill Campus please call (246) 417-4000 or log on to www.cavehill.uwi.edu which also links to the other campus web sites within the University of the West indies.

Author: Brett Callaghan