The University of the West Indies has launched a campaign aimed at assisting students affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, adding it will use August as “Global Giving” month at the Caribbean tertiary institution.
The UWI, which has campuses in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, The Bahamas, and Trinidad and Tobago, is also calling on its alumni, partners and friends regionally and internationally to support students whose finances have been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
It said “UWI Global Giving”, the crowd funding campaign, encourages persons to give as little as $10 online and that “the collective proceeds will fund scholarships and bursaries for the students in need as The UWI’s new academic year and classes are set to resume at the end of the month.
“One step back is to place their future, and that of their family, community and nation on the back burner,” said UWI Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Hilary Beckles. “We cannot allow that to happen.”
UWI estimates at least 10,000 of its current 50,000 students have been functioning in difficult social circumstances because of the COVID-19.
