Celebrating UWI Day

On January 7, 1947, the governing body of the University College of the West Indies held its first meeting in Jamaica, paving the way for the establishment of The UWI’s first campus at Mona. Just a year later, the campus welcomed its first class of 33 medical students.

Fast forward to January 7, 2018, and again in 2023, “UWI Day” was officially declared by governments across the region, marking the beginning of our 60th and 75th anniversary celebrations.

In April 2024, at its annual meeting, the University Council approved the continued recognition of January 7 “…to be observed in perpetuity, as UWI Day” commemorating our rich history in the journey to becoming an excellent global university rooted in the Caribbean.

Today, we celebrate our UWI as an internationally respected academy comprising five campuses, global centres in partnership with universities in North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe, and home to the International School for Development Justice (ISDJ), the world’s first-ever global business school dedicated solely to online graduate programmes that focus on leadership of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).