The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies,[3][4] is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turks and Caicos Islands.

The aim of the university is to help "unlock the potential for economic and cultural growth" in the West Indies, thus allowing improved regional autonomy.

[7] The university was founded in 1948, on the recommendation of the Asquith Commission[8] through its sub-committee on the West Indies, chaired by Sir James Irvine.

[3] In addition to patient care, the hospital facilitates research and teaching, along with the Medical Services department of the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies.

The Open Campus, University Centres, headed by a Resident Tutor, were established in each of the other 13 contributing territories thereafter.

[citation needed] In 1950, Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, Queen Victoria's last surviving granddaughter, became the first Chancellor of the University College of the West Indies.

[citation needed] Sir William Arthur Lewis was the first Vice-Chancellor under the UWI's independent Charter.

He was succeeded by Sir Philip Sherlock (a Jamaican and one of UWI's founding fathers) who served as Vice-Chancellor from 1963 to 1969.

[21] Starting in the summer of 2018, students in the programme on the Cave Hill and Mona campuses will travel to Suzhou, China for two years to study software engineering and Mandarin.

[22] The UWI-SUNY Center for Leadership and Sustainable Development (CLSD) was established in 2017 on SUNY's Empire State campus in Manhattan.

[21][23] The centre is designed to assist the Commonwealth Caribbean in meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

In addition to research and advocacy, plans were underway as of 2019 to offer a joint master's degree in sustainability and leadership.

[24] In 2017, the University of Lagos (UNILAG) and the UWI established the UNILAG-UWI Institute of African and Diaspora Studies.

[24] Also in 2017, UWI and the University of Johannesburg (UJ) signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) to establish the Institute for Global Africa Affairs.

[26] In 2020, UWI and the University of Havana inked an agreement to jointly establish the Institute for the Sustainable Development of the Caribbean.

[27] In 2021 the Inter-American Development Bank decided to become a stakeholder of UWI under Cuban-American President Mauricio Claver-Carone as a public-private partnerships, [PPP).

A new Faculty of Culture, Creative and Performing Arts was approved to be established on 1 August 2020 at the Cave Hill Campus.

[37] This was because of the pressing need for more (locally trained) doctors to treat conditions such as tuberculosis, yaws, tetanus, typhoid, infant malnutrition and illnesses related to diarrhea.

[37] In addition to the standard five-year course, a pre-course science year was required for students without adequate preparation in that area.

In addition to population growth, the exodus of medical graduates to North America, never to return, exacerbated the need to increase the output of doctors.

Around the same time, the UWI School of Clinical Medicine and Research was established from an existing programme allowing clerkships to be undertaken in Nassau, under the direction of the St. Augustine campus.

For example, anaesthesia was initially provided by untrained doctors, nurses, and pharmacists, leading to high morbidity and mortality rates.

The initial curriculum was modeled on that found in the UK, with the intention to seek recognition from British authorities.

[37] UWI was a key player in the establishment of the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and other Health Professions (CAAM-HP).

[38] Prior to the establishment of the Faculty of Law at the UWI, residents of the anglophone Caribbean would travel primarily to the United Kingdom to study.

For the legal profession in England, the influx of prospective lawyers from around the British Commonwealth was beginning to strain resources.

Incrementally, courses from the second and third year of the law programmes were introduced at St. Augustine and Mona, allowing students to take more and more of the degree on those campuses, rather than having to study at Cave Hill.

The university has produced students who have excelled in a number of disciplines, such as the arts and sciences, business, politics, and sports.