The 2019 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings has ranked the University of the West Indies (UWI) among the world’s top institutions – the only Caribbean institution to make the list.
This puts the UWI in the top five per cent of universities worldwide, with a ranking of 591 out of more than 25,000 recognised universities around the world. A total of 1,258 universities made it on the THE World University Rankings list.
This is not the first time the UWI has been recognized as a top University this year. The regional institution was ranked in the top third of the THE’s Latin America University Rankings at number 37 out of 129 schools.
Vice Chancellor, Sir Hilary Beckles, said he is proud of the accomplishment and remarked: “The excellence of The UWI has been a well-kept secret for far too long. Now, with these very impressive global ranking results, we can begin to share with the world the story of this academic enterprise in the West Indies that highlights the intellectual achievement and scholastic contributions of the Caribbean community.”
His statement is a culmination of an initiative which he announced on becoming Vice Chancellor in 2015. He declared the intent to radically globalize the institution to prepare it for regional and global comparisons within the THE’s rankings.
In order to achieve this goal Vice-Chancellor Beckles established an Office for Global Affairs and funded a redesigned Office of Strategic Planning. This was to allow The UWI to be able to be recognized with the global sector as a premier institution. The THE world University ranking is an outward realization of that effort.
The THE rankings are regarded as the definitive list of the top universities. It is the only global university performance table to judge research-focused universities across key areas such as teaching (the learning environment); research (volume, income and reputation), international outlook (staff, students and research); citations (research influence); industry income (knowledge transfer).
The UWI is fairly young for a top ranked university at just 70 years old whereas other ranked universities such as University of Cambridge (ranked #2) and Harvard (ranked #6) are 809 and 382 years old respectively. A fact that ads additional significance to this notable achievement.
“Oriens Ex Occidente Lux” — “Light rising from the West”
Great leaders are moulded at the UWI.
My brothers and sisters, DNO is correct in saying UWI is ranked in the top 5% of the universities in the world:
25,000 were in the race to be one of the 1,258 selected for consideration as a major universities world wide. Out of the 1,258 selected, UWI was number 591.
So divide 591 by 25,000 = 2.34% ( This is where UWI is falls in the world.)
But the rank for the top universities selected drops UWI to 46% that is out of the top 1,258 universities selected in the world.
Now 591 divided by 1,258 = 0.469. So the percent drops for UWI when only the group of 1,258 top universities are considered. Hope this explains it to you a little more clearly.
I think you guys all calculated the wrong thing. Out of 25000 universities 1258 made up the top 5%. That is 1258/25000. Out of the top 5% UWI was 591. Basically UWI made it in top 5. You got to worked up on those numbers there.
I quite like this discussion and agree that you are on point. However, the article did not state that 1,258 were considered as major universities. See the quote below
A total of 1,258 universities made it on the THE World University Rankings list.
This puts the UWI in the top five per cent of universities worldwide, with a ranking of 591 out of more than 25,000 recognised universities around the world. A total of 1,258 universities made it to the THE World University Rankings list.
Admin please help, I am confused. What it the total number of universities? 25,000 or 1,258?
ADMIN: The total number of recognized universities are 25,000 but only 1,258 received a number ranking.
Thanks Admin. This suggests to me that data is being skewed. If only 1,258 were ranked then this should be where the percentage is worked out.
After all we are speaking about world university rankings
Your headline “— ranked among top Universities in the World —” grabbed my attention. Usually, when one says ‘among top’ we are looking at top three, five, ten or even 20 – if we stretch it. When I read down the article and saw that UWI is ranked at 591, it was a bit disappointing.
ADMIN: Being in the top five per cent among 25,000 recognized Universities is significant.
Congratulations to the UWI, my alma mater. I can definitely vouch for the quality of education received from UWI.
The pursuit of spiritual strength must travel through intellectual route, period. I will reference a famous one as evidence:
“Galileo Galilei, though famous for his scientific achievements in astronomy, mathematics, and physics, and infamous for his controversy with the church was, in fact, a devout Christian who saw not a divorce of religion and science but only a healthy marriage: “God is known by nature in his works, and by doctrine in his revealed word.”
Congratulations UWI. But I know many products of UWI, boy they are sharp; sometimes I even feel different in the ranks and environments…
why are we sending students to china?
Because china give free education
Eor the same reason that many of our people were trained in England during colonial times.
Fantastic! What a wonderful asset for the entire Caribbean! I visited there once and just loved it!
Congrats to UWI , and I am not surprised, because I have been all over and the kind of knowledge I am coming across in the work place with people outside the West Indies is below par.
Congrats to UWI. I am very proud of UWI. That’s one of my Alma Mater. Keep it up UWI!!!!!