Its main campus is located inside the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill, but remains a distinct and separate institution.
[4][5] It brought together several existing UWI units, namely the University of the West Indies Distance Education Centre (UWIDEC), the School of Continuing Studies (originally the Extra Mural Department), the Tertiary Level Institutions Unit, and the Office of the Board for Non-Campus Countries & Distance Education (BNNCDE).
The University of the West Indies Distance Teaching Experiment (UWIDITE) was an initiative funded by a USD 600,000 grant from USAID.
[4] The telecommunications system was first used in St. Lucia, Dominica, Antigua and Grenada to provide access to courses in non-campus territories.
At the same time, there was a Challenge Examinations scheme that allowed students to undertake initial (first year) studies in their home territories before joining one of the three campuses.
[4] This Campus was provided with additional financial, human, technology and administrative resources and a structure that was intended to better serve non-campus territories.