News Releases

In a decision confirming that the Cave Hill Campus continues to deliver the highest standards of education, the Barbados Accreditation Council (BAC) has re-accredited the institution for a further six years, extending its status to 2032.

This marks the campus’ third cycle of BAC accreditation, following its initial award in 2013 and re-accreditation in 2019.

At the official handover of the certificate on Monday, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Clive Landis said the accreditors praised the dedication of Cave Hill’s staff, the strength of its quality assurance systems, and the Campus’ ability to maintain programme quality despite the COVID-19 pandemic and financial constraints. They also noted the institution’s “impressive” collaboration with government, regional partners, and industry.

As Barbados and the wider Caribbean face the growing burden of chronic diseases, two academics at the Cave Hill Campus’ Faculty of Medical Sciences believe the key to better health outcomes lies in strengthening the connection between research, medical education and patient care.

Drs. Margaret O’Shea and Dale Springer, specialist surgeons at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), point to recent advances in kidney transplantation and breast cancer treatment as evidence of what can be achieved when academia and clinical practice work hand in hand.

As a Consultant General and Renal Transplant Surgeon, Dr. O’Shea has played a pivotal role in strengthening Barbados’ kidney transplant programme. Building on the foundation established by Professor Emeritus Sir Errol Walrond, who performed the island’s first kidney transplant in 1987, she helped restart the living donor renal transplant programme at the QEH.

Hip-hop pioneer Doug E. Fresh and Barbadian church and community leader Reverend Dr Lucille Onita Baird are to receive honorary degrees from The University of the West Indies (The UWI) when the Cave Hill Campus holds its graduation ceremony next month.

Fresh, of the United States, will be awarded the Doctor of Letters (DLitt) for his contribution to the arts through hip-hop music.

Reverend Baird, MBE, JP, will also receive the Doctor of Letters (DLitt) in recognition of her contribution to the church, community leadership and social commentary.

The two are among 13 honorary graduands named by The UWI for its 2026 graduation ceremonies, which will be held across the university’s five campuses between October 10 and November 14.

The Cave Hill Campus graduation ceremony is scheduled for October 17.

The University of the West Indies (The UWI) extends congratulations to Her Excellency Dr Janet Caroo, Managing Director of UWItv, on her appointment as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and Head of the Regional Integration Unit of the Government of Saint Lucia.

The appointment, effective September 1, 2026, marks a significant new chapter in Dr Caroo’s career of regional service. It recognises her leadership, extensive Caribbean experience, and longstanding commitment to advancing regional development, cooperation, and integration.

As Managing Director of UWItv, Dr Caroo advanced The UWI’s regional mandate through strategic communication, public engagement, and promoting Caribbean perspectives. She connected the University’s expertise and scholarship with communities across the region and reinforced media’s vital role in fostering informed dialogue on Caribbean issues.

Dr Caroo brings this experience to her new diplomatic and regional integration responsibilities as she supports Saint Lucia’s engagement with CARICOM and the OECS, progressing regional priorities such as cooperation, mobility, trade, investment, innovation, and stronger people-to-people connections.

With Barbados facing a shrinking labour force, The University of the West Indies (The UWI), Cave Hill Campus and the Human Resource Management Association of Barbados (HRMAB) have joined forces to help tackle the issue.

The Campus and HRMAB have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will better align academic programmes with industry needs, expand workplace learning opportunities and support research on labour market trends.

A key proposal is an annual review of skills demand to determine whether Barbados is producing the talent employers need and keeping pace with changing workforce requirements.

Deputy Principal Professor Winston Moore put forward the proposal during the MOU signing on September 8, 2026. That agreement succeeds an MOU signed in 2018.

Artificial intelligence has become one of the defining phrases of the times, as technology pervades classrooms, workplaces and conversations about the future. However at The University of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill Campus, AI has been given a decidedly more human dimension.

At the Campus’ Matriculation Ceremony, held under the theme “AI: Altruistic Innovations”, speakers challenged the newest members of the Cave Hill community to look beyond the technology and consider how knowledge, innovation and opportunity can be used to improve the lives of others.

Welcoming students who will form part of the Cave Hill graduating class of 2029, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal: Professor R Clive Landis said university education should extend beyond personal achievement and prepare students to contribute to something larger than themselves.

With this, he offered the perspective of “Altruistic Intelligence” – shifting the focus from what artificial intelligence can accomplish, to what people choose to do with intelligence and technology.

At the heart of his message was the question: “What will I do with what I know?”

Nearly three decades after Kregg Nurse’s fighting spirit challenged perceptions of disability, his legacy is being memorialised with the planting of a shaddock tree on the grounds of The University of the West Indies (The UWI) Cave Hill Campus.

It was planted by the Barbados Council for the Disabled (BCD) near the Faculty of Medical Sciences, as part of the organisation’s 50th anniversary celebrations under the theme, “BCD 50: Honouring the Struggle, Igniting the Future.”

Kregg, who lived with muscular dystrophy, rose above adversity and graduated from Cave Hill in 1997 with honours in accounting. He subsequently worked at Ernst & Young and died in 2004 at the age of 27.

Four years after Barbados launched a groundbreaking initiative that redirects a portion of its sovereign debt repayments into marine conservation, key stakeholders continue to explore ways the programme can deliver even greater benefits for the island and the wider region.

Three years after leaving her homeland and travelling an estimated 4,000 miles to Barbados to pursue a pioneering medical education programme at The University of the West Indies (The UWI), Cave Hill Campus, Fafa Hanson has earned her place in the history books. The 22-year-old is the first student from Ghana to complete the preclinical phase of the joint medical degree programme between the Campus and the University of Ghana.

The following tribute was written by Dr Roy McCree, Dean, Faculty of Sport.

The West Indies cricket team emerged as a symbol of hope and change in the first half of the twentieth century to many concerned with the issues of (in)equality, (in)justice, and liberation from systems of oppression in West Indian society.