Thirty-One win prestigious UWI Open Scholarship

The University of the West Indies has awarded its prestigious Open Scholarships to thirty-one students from throughout the region who will commence studies at one of the three campuses in the 2006/2007 academic year. The awards have been given based on performance at the UWI Open Scholarship Examinations in March this year. Of the thirty-one students, 18 (all Trinidadians) will pursue their studies at the St Augustine Campus (9 in Engineering, 4 in Medical Sciences, 4 in Science and Agriculture and one in Social Sciences); ten students (nine from Jamaica and one from Belize) at the Mona Campus (3 in Medical Sciences, 3 in Pure and Applied Sciences, 3 in Social Sciences and one in Humanities & Education) and three at the Cave Hill Campus (Stevanni Duncan from Belize and Thandiwe Lyle from Grenada who will both read Law and Tashana Gittens from Grenada who will pursue a degree in the Social Sciences).
The UWI has always awarded scholarships based on a specially set examination, usually held just before Easter but has over the years steadily increased the number of awards. This year’s new offers represent an increase of 62% over the previous year. The recipients are all high academic achievers and among this year’s awardees are some especially outstanding students who have excelled not only academically but also in extra-curricular activities. One such candidate, John-Ross Dominic Andrews, from Maracas Valley in Trinidad, for example, has 8 CXC/GCE ‘O’ level subjects with distinction and 4 CAPE subjects with distinction while participating actively in Mathematics competitions, swimming championships (he was a Gold medallist at the CARIFTA Games) and being an active Sea Scout and avid piano player. He will be pursuing a degree in Engineering at the St Augustine Campus.
The UWI is committed to widening access by students from the region to quality higher education and will therefore continue to reward students who show good academic promise through this Scholarship programme.