The University of the Commonwealth Caribbean Kingston campus
UCC rebrands, changes name to University of the Commonwealth Caribbean
The University College of the Caribbean (UCC) Board of Directors has announced that the institution is rebranding and changing its name to the “University of the Commonwealth Caribbean”, to reflect its new institutional profile and positioning.
The change takes place tomorrow February 13. UCC has been operating as a university college for 12 years and currently serves more than 4,000 students annually in Jamaica and the eastern Caribbean. Students are enrolled in undergraduate and graduate degree programmes (including five master’s degree programmes) across more than 15 disciplines.
“The management of the institution has initiated the necessary steps in a transition process to secure further approval that supports the rebranding and name change from University College of the Caribbean to ‘University of the Commonwealth Caribbean,’” the institution reported on Friday.
UCC was established in 2004 as a result of a merger of the Institute of Management Sciences and the Institute of Management and Production. It has made strides in academic development over the years, most recently starting the process of establishing a professional law school in Guyana and Jamaica — The JOF Haynes Law School of the Americas. It also recently established a School of Medicine, Health and Applied Sciences.
UCC is internationally accredited by the United Kingdom-based Accreditation Service for International Schools, Colleges and Universities, and is seeking to offer regional franchises within the Commonwealth. It was accorded formal recognition as a university college by the University Council of Jamaica last year — the first private, non-affiliated tertiary institution in the nation to be so recognised.
“Moving to formal university status better reflects the successes we have had to date, expanding our undergraduate and graduate programmes and our plans to develop a university town and global campus in western Jamaica and new locations in the eastern Caribbean, as well as new programmes starting this year,” Dr Winston Adams, the UCC group chairman, said of the new development.
First published in the Jamaica Observer
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