The University of the West Indies (UWI) has officially launched the UWI-China Institute of Technology which will begin operation in September with a BSc in software engineering, Pro-Vice Chancellor and Principal of the UWI Open Campus, Dr. Luz Longsworth has announced.
She said on Tuesday UWI has for the first time collaborated with a university in China to form the institute.
“What the University has done, through the initiative of our new Vice Chancellor, is to partner with the Global Institute of Software Technology and we now have officially launched the UWI-China Institute of Technology which will begin operation in September with a BSc in software engineering,” she stated.
The Global Institute of Software Technology is located in Suzhou, China.
Longsworth said there will be a physical location at Cave Hill Campus in Barbados and also at the Mona Campus in Jamaica.
“There will be scholarships made available and I am sure that once again the private sector industry, government will be looking at how they can support young people in going there,” she stated.
She said UWI is taking the measure so that it can develop a software industry that can absorb young people.
“Our young people are on the cutting edge of technology, they want things that excite them,” she noted. “We understand that education must also be linked with capacity and skilled development. “You want your young person to come out of University with is a skill that they can use to support themselves and their family, but with an education and a sensitivity and a sensibility that also allows them to be good citizens.”
Building synergies with international institutes of learning to advance the agenda of technology, international relations and cutting edge infrastructural development is the way to go. This new programme speaks to the vibrancy and innovativeness that the new Vice Chancellor brings to the management of UWI. Well done. I wish this programme every success and look forward to the transformation that it will bring to our region.
The introduction of a degree programme in software engineering is welcome news. I trust that this will help generate an indigenous regional industry in IT product development. UWI, this is a very good way to go. Let us (by ”us” I mean UWI) put greater emphasis on research and development, science and technology and public policy.
i am indeed happy to see this type of collaboration. UWI in the past has snubbed non UWI programs, but this is indeed a step in the right direction. I hope that a similar initiative can be developed with a Cuban University since they are right in the region itself and training thousand of students
China has ranked universities and an economy that calls for software engineering, so of the two I would hardly prefer Cuba just because it’s only a thousand miles away.