In a banner year of achievements for the newest campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), The Office of the UWI Board for Undergraduate Studies has announced that three top students of the Open Campus have received bursaries valued at US$2,250 each for the 2009-2010 academic year.  The awards are offered by the American Foundation of The UWI (AFUWI), a non- profit Foundation, which over the past decade has provided scholarships and grants and funded special projects to foster the development of the UWI.

The Open Campus students who have received bursaries this year are: Daniel Mendez from Belize who is enrolled in the BSc Management Studies programme; Isa Alexander from St. Lucia, who is also enrolled in the BSc Management Studies programme; and Jade Leatham from Dominica, who is enrolled in the BEd Secondary, Language Education (English) programme.

According to the Assistant Registrar, Student Support, Open Campus, Ms. Daniella Hickling, the students were selected based on academic achievements, as well as financial need. They also had to be students attending the UWI for the first time.  “Although it was an arduous process, as we had to manually go through the entire applicant pool of approximately 3000, it was worth every effort. These three students and their previous academic successes were the highest, by far.  All of us in the Open Campus Registry and in the greater Open Campus family, are very proud of these students and of their achievement”, she stated.
In this 2009/2010 academic year, the AFUWI has provided J$3.6M towards scholarships for UWI students to help cover tuition and book costs. The money represents proceeds from the AFUWI Legacy Awards 2009 Gala, the organisation's premier fund-raising event which is hosted in New York each January.