A landmark partnership agreement between The University of the West Indies (The UWI) Five Islands Campus and the Antigua and Barbuda Bar Association was formalized last week at a signing ceremony hosted on the Antigua-based campus, marking a major step forward for legal education in the Eastern Caribbean. The event brought together key institutional stakeholders, including Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal Professor C. Justin Robinson, Assistant Lecturer Jenna Dicocco from the School of Humanities & Education, Antigua and Barbuda Bar Association President Luann De Costa, and local legal representative George Looby.
Opening the ceremony, Professor Robinson emphasized that the timing of the new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) could not be better, coming alongside the official launch of the campus’s new Bachelor of Laws (LLB) programme. The programme has already seen strong demand from prospective students across Antigua and Barbuda and the wider Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) region. He underlined that the partnership goes far beyond simply expanding access to a qualifying law degree for regional students. Instead, the shared goal is to empower the next generation of Caribbean legal professionals to conduct original research and build advocacy capacity around the pressing local legal challenges that shape life across the region’s jurisdictions.
De Costa echoed Robinson’s vision, reaffirming the Bar Association’s commitment to long-term, active collaboration rather than passive involvement in the programme. “We’re here to be a real partner in this, not just observers,” she stated. Outlining the core areas of collaboration, she shared that the association will contribute directly to curriculum development to ensure the programme aligns with local practice needs, deliver one-on-one mentorship for enrolled students, and support student-led initiatives including the establishment of a campus law society and an academic student law journal.
According to The UWI Five Islands Institutional Communications (FIC), the partnership embodies a shared commitment between the two institutions: to train emerging legal professionals to practice competently within the Commonwealth Caribbean’s unique legal framework, while also strengthening productive ties between the academic campus and the local practicing legal community.
Established in 2019 as the fifth official campus of The UWI, The UWI Five Islands Campus represents a historic milestone for higher education access across the Eastern Caribbean. Situated in Antigua and Barbuda, the campus brings the UWI’s globally recognized academic excellence directly to the heart of the Caribbean region. As part of the broader UWI system, which holds consistent top rankings in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, the campus adheres to the same rigorous academic standards that have made the UWI a leading beacon of educational achievement across the Caribbean for decades.
Today, the campus offers more than 45 accredited undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes across four core academic schools: the School of Humanities and Education, the School of Business and Management, the School of Health and Behavioural Sciences, and the School of Science, Computing and Artificial Intelligence. It also hosts the regional Centre of Excellence for Oceanography and the Blue Economy (COBE), an institution dedicated to advancing cutting-edge marine science research and driving sustainable ocean-focused economic development – two priorities that are critical to the economic and environmental resilience of Caribbean small island developing states. More information about the campus and its programmes can be found at its official website: www.fiveislands.uwi.edu.