The University Data Protection Office. Saturday, 28 January 2023—The University of the West Indies (The UWI) continues to be the leading tertiary educational institution in the region, and Data Protection being second nature to our community is of continued importance to us.  As the world continues to implement data protection legislation, The UWI continues to pivot and conform.  Operating in various countries regionally and internationally, conforming to the different Data Protection regulations is our continued priority.  However, not only do we focus on compliance, as an accountable organisation, we take seriously our duty to maintain the privacy of the persons whose information we process.

Following the implementation of The UWI’s Data Protection Policy in 2020, continued steps have been made to protect the data of the people we serve (students, staff, alumni, stakeholders, customers). Again, securing the data of those we serve is of paramount importance and this is why we join with the world to celebrate Data Privacy Day on January 28 this year.  We use this day to kick start the celebration of our own Privacy Awareness Month (February) across The UWI – all campuses.

The UWI’s Privacy Awareness Month is aimed informing staff and students of the actions The UWI is taking to secure their data and to comply with the various data protection legislation in the jurisdictions we serve.  The month is also used to inform staff and students how to protect themselves and others from privacy breaches, as well as informing them of their rights and responsibilities as data subjects.

The increased need for data protection requires us to be constantly teaching and learning and, as a university, we are keen on fulfilling this requirement.  We intend to not only equip our staff and students, we are also open to educating those who have an interest and are open to learning.   Reach out to us – we are here to assist you too.

As our motto, in the University Data Protection Office states, we must ensure that we operationalise “Privacy in Practise”, and do our part to ensure we protect the personal information of ourselves and others. Remember, Privacy is everyone’s business.

Happy Data Privacy Day 2023!