Carroll Edwards, public relations officer at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, says the institution is seeking to increase the number of options for pursuing the law degree programme offered by its Faculty of Law.

The UWI will be doing this by expanding its capacity at its three campuses.

Edwards was clarifying a report in The Sunday Gleaner yesterday, which suggested the UWI has scrapped the Barbados component of the degree programme.

Response to demands

In a letter sent to the editor yesterday, Edwards stressed that the UWI's move was aimed at increasing its capacity at its campuses in Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica rather than reducing the number of options.

"This is a direct response to increasing demands from hundreds of persons who are interested in pursuing its very competitive law programme," she stated.

Edwards said that traditionally, the UWI intake from Jamaica has been 40 students who are subsidised by government subventions and take their first year at Mona and transfer to Cave Hill for the final two years of the Bachelor of Laws (LLB) programme.

"This programme continues," she said. "However, effective September 2009, the UWI will also deliver the undergraduate law degree (LLB) at the Mona campus."

Edwards said this move follows on the recent introduction of the programme in The Bahamas.

"Under this arrangement, the Mona campus will admit a further 100 students who will take the entire three years of the degree at Mona," Edward said. Approximately 30 of those students will take their first year at the Western Jamaica campus of UWI, Mona, transferring to the Mona campus for the final two years.

Edwards added: "The expansion will be guided by senior academics already within the Faculty of Law and builds on the tradition of excellence in teaching and research already honed by the Cave Hill campus."

Facilitating jamaicans

She said the expansion would also facilitate those persons who have, in the past, found it challenging to travel to the Cave Hill campus, take advantage of the firm foundation which the UWI Bachelor of Laws degree provides.

Because the Government is unable to increase its budget allocation to UWI and has, in fact, reduced its subvention to Mona, all these additional students will pay the economic cost of the programme. However, a special feature of the intake is that these students will be eligible for bursaries to cover up to one-half of their tuition fees. These fees will cover the additional resources needed: staffing, library and IT resources, as well as teaching and office space.