University of the West Indies

Welcome to UNICA

I am very happy to share this website with you. It speaks to UNICA as an Association and reaffirms its underlying philosophy and guiding principles which include the fostering of cooperation among higher education institutions in the Caribbean. The catastrophic earthquake in Haiti at the beginning of this year has led us to focus on promoting partnerships and coordinating assistance for the country and UNICA member institutions there. We are constantly reminded of how susceptible many of our countries in the region are to the forces of nature and this encourages us to increase collaborative ties between our universities, to mobilize our expertise to mitigate damage from the forces of nature and to assist in rebuilding efforts once these events occur.

Historically, an important mission of our higher education institutions is to respond to issues which are critical to the well-being of our communities. We need to retain our role as central players in the development of new and innovative ideas to address the social, economic and cultural changes occurring in the region and to remind ourselves that it is universities and research institutions, not firms that drive scientific advances in biotechnology, medicine, economics, social studies and countless other fields.

Colleagues, we have tremendous individual and collective responsibilities. I invite you to join with us in making UNICA a stronger and more focused body of institutions concerned with the role of education and in shaping the future of a rapidly changing region.