Recently, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed with North-West University in South Africa. Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, Vice-Chancellor of The University of the West Indies, praised this as “historic and emotional”.
Speaking on The UWI’s collaboration with North-West University, he cited the Caribbean region’s strong ties to South Africa, adding, “…we were in the trenches with you in the fight against Apartheid”.
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Vice-Chancellor Beckles drew attention to the fact that both institutions are multi-campus academies, pointing out that North-West has three campuses and UWI has five. He also pointed out parallels in the demographics, the number of students enrolled, and the universities’ official international institutional accreditation and dedication to providing high-quality instruction.
A framework for cooperation was formed by the MOU between the two schools for a variety of activities, including faculty and student exchanges, capacity building, collaborative research, publishing, seminars, conferences, open lectures, and the creation and delivery of courses.
North-West University’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Bismark Tyobeka, stated that his institution was “proud to be associated with The UWI, which shared similar aspirations to be a world-class university with significant global ranking”.
The historically black North-West University, the traditionally white Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, and the historically black Vista University’s Sebokeng Campus came together to establish North-West University in 2004. Its development in post-apartheid South Africa is regarded as “a strong symbolic act of reconciliation and nation-building”.
