With September just three weeks away, the University of the West Indies (UWI) has announced increased tuition fees for students attending two of its campuses – the Global Campus and the Cave Hill Campus in Barbados.
The increase takes effect in the upcoming academic year which starts in September.
The University in a memorandum to students of the Global Campus, formerly the Open Campus, informed students that a “reduced and incremental increase” in tuition fees would take effect instead of the original 10 percent that had been proposed.
An incremental increase was suggested by the Guild Executive who partnered with the Campus and University administration and brokered a reduced increase.
The memo noted that “this academic year’s tuition fees will only be increased by four percent for Semester 1, 2023/2024 and by two percent for Semester 2, 2023/2024.”
The Global Campus says the “increase was approved at a meeting of the University Council in April 2023.”
Tuition fees will now increase from US$126 per credit for regional students doing online/blended undergraduate programmes to US$131 per credit this semester, and then to US$131 per credit in Semester 2.
Tuition fees per credit for regional students doing graduate programmes (Graduate certificates/diplomas and Masters) will increase from US$231 to US$240 this semester and then to US$245 in semester 2
Those doing MPhil, Ph.D., and Professional Doctorates (EdD) graduate programmes will experience an increase from US$272 per credit to US$283 per credit for this Semester and then rise to US$289 per credit in Semester 2.
Meanwhile, tuition fees per credit for international students engaging in undergraduate programmes will increase from US$200 to US$208 in the first Semester, and then in Semester 2, it will go up to US$212.
For international students doing graduate studies including graduate Certificates/Diplomas and Masters, costs have increased too, and are now required to pay US$383 per credit, up from US$368, and will see a US$390 increase per credit in Semester 2.
Additionally, those doing studies at the MPhil, Ph.D., and Professional Doctorates (EdD) levels will now be required to pay US$448 per credit in tuition fees for semester 1, up from US$431. The fee per credit will then rise to US$457 in Semester 2.
