Sir Hilary Beckles, the vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI), has been named chairman/chancellor of the United Nations University. This nomination comes after the university’s governing board met in Tokyo, Japan, on December 7, 2024. In May 2025, his appointment will become operative.
Beckles praised the university’s council members and officials from the UN and other organizations for their faith in him when he accepted the position. He gave them his word that as the university approaches its fiftieth year, it will continue to grow into one of the best in the world under the direction of the council and its distinguished vice-chancellor.
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He said that the Caribbean, the region, and especially the developing communities in the global south would benefit from his appointment, which is a significant honor for UWI and its reputation and worldwide connectedness.
Beckles has been involved in UN activities for a long time in a prominent capacity. He has held numerous positions, including those of historian and vice president of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) flagship project, The Slave Routes Project; consultant to the United Nations Development Report on Latin America and the Caribbean each year; member of committees on the Global Future of Higher Education; and, most recently, co-editor of Volume 9 of UNESCO’s General History of Africa series.
His two addresses to the UN General Assembly were on reparatory justice in a multipolar political and economic environment and favor of the international community’s designation of 2015–2024 as the International Decade for People of African Descent.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Beckles has also spoken before the UN Security Council about world peace in the face of the widening digital gap between the North and South.
In light of Beckles’ leadership in the creation of The UWI’s International School for Development Justice in 2024, which aims to offer online postgraduate degree programs on the SDGs, the UN Academic Impact Committee recently elected The UWI as the global hub for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13: Climate Action.
He invited and welcomed both current General Secretary Antonio Guterres and former UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon to the UWI, where he had previously worked as special advisor to the latter on sustainable development.
The council stated that it was eager to work under Beckles’ head, citing his international standing as a distinguished researcher and thought leader in development thinking, as well as a strategic planner in higher education.
To maintain the trust of both internal and external stakeholders, including the United Nations leadership, faculty and managers, private sector investors, and students, the chairman/chancellor position is distinguished. Its duties include assisting the rector/vice-chancellor of the university in leading the council.
With research and teaching facilities spread across several nations, the United Nations University is a multinational university with its main office located in Tokyo.
