— University of the West Indies Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Hilary Beckles has urged students to use their university education to help find solutions to some of the Caribbean’s most pressing problems, including poverty, illiteracy, climate change, public health, reparatory justice and food security.

Beckles delivered the message to incoming students at UWI Five Islands Campus during its 2026 matriculation ceremony, encouraging them to see higher education as extending beyond their personal academic and professional ambitions.

He described UWI as an “activist university,” which he said meant an institution actively engaged in finding solutions to problems affecting Caribbean people.

“It is an activist university, and by this what I mean, it’s a university that is active in the search for solutions to the problems facing the people of the Caribbean and beyond,” Beckles said.

Beckles challenged the students to consider the biggest difficulties confronting their communities and the wider region.

“You can very well imagine what are your 10 biggest challenges which you imagine your communities to be facing,” he said.

“Some of you will say poverty. Some of you will say illiteracy. Some of you will say climate change, public health, reparatory justice, food security.”

Beckles said UWI is already involved in teaching, research and public advocacy surrounding those issues.

“Whatever your ranking, you will realize that your university is actively participating in the teaching and learning around these issues as well as researching and generating public advocacy around these issues,” he said.

The vice-chancellor told the incoming students that they should become active participants in that work rather than view themselves solely as recipients of a university education.

“I’m inviting you as students to participate in this culture of research, of discussion and advocacy,” Beckles said.

“It is only by participating that you can contribute to the solutions of these challenges facing our people.”

He also encouraged students to connect their individual pursuit of academic excellence with a wider responsibility to society.

“I ask you to explore the relationship between your personal pursuit of intellectual excellence as well as your contribution to the society beyond your own ecosystem,” Beckles said.

“You are a member of a university which is a pillar of your society.”

He said the interaction between individual development and responsibility to society would be important as students pursue their studies and develop ideas that could address problems affecting their communities.

Beckles urged students not to keep the results of their research and ideas to themselves but to engage with others and subject those ideas to discussion.

“As you do your research, as you discuss and you emerge with solutions, share those solutions with your colleagues,” he said.

“Engage in robust conversations in your seminars and your classrooms and always seek to ensure that the purpose of research is to find solutions to repair the harm that your society is encountering.”

Beckles also stressed that the search for solutions should be grounded in ethics.

He described ethics as “the moral framework within which you operate” and said it should contribute to strengthening the communities students are part of.

“In your scholarship, in your sporting activity, in your contribution to the creative arts, always remember that the search for excellence is best achieved and sustained within an ethical framework,” Beckles said.

Earlier in his address, Beckles welcomed the incoming students to UWI and said their arrival would bring new ideas and intellectual energy to the institution.

“You will bring to your university an infusion of new and fresh ideas and a tremendous amount of intellectual energy,” he said. “The UWI will be enriched as a result of your entry and participation.”

He also pointed to UWI’s longstanding role in Caribbean development, describing the institution as an intergenerational project built over 78 years through the commitment of successive generations of Caribbean people.

Beckles later formally recognized students admitted to the Five Islands Campus to pursue undergraduate degrees as duly matriculated, along with those admitted to undergraduate diploma and certificate programs who had satisfied the relevant requirements.

This article was originally published by Antigua News Room. Read the original article here: UWI Vice-Chancellor Urges Antigua and Barbuda Students to Help Solve Caribbean Problems.