CARIMAC to become a school

A ceremony to mark the redesignation of CARIMAC as the Caribbean School of Media and Communication will take place on Thursday, June 22, 2017, starting at

6 p.m. at UWI CARIMAC. University leaders, local and regional partners, former CARIMAC students, part-time and full-time lecturers, current students, media and communication industry leaders, and members of the general public are expected to attend.

The official name of the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication at UWI Mona will change at the start of the new academic year on August 1 this year. The brand name CARIMAC will remain the short title for the school, which will still operate within UWI Mona's faculty of Humanities and Education (FHE).

The name change was based on a recommendation by the UWI's Quality Assurance Review Panel and endorsed by Mona's Academic Board, the institute's management, the Faculty Board, and external industry stakeholders, including the General Assembly of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU).

The name change comes against the background of substantial institutional growth and successes at CARIMAC, especially over recent years.

Doubling number

There has been a doubling of the number of undergraduate and graduate programmes offered at CARIMAC in the last five years. There are close to 600 students located at both Mona and the Western Jamaica Campus (WJC), where two full undergraduate degree programmes exist. As part of its continuing expansion CARIMAC plans to introduce a new master's programme in media management and to deliver its diploma programme in media and communication at the WJC campus, starting in September 2017.

"CARIMAC is one of the outstanding success stories at the Mona Campus. I am delighted to support the continued expansion of CARIMAC through its redesignation as a school and to observe its ongoing dynamic growth, including delivery of a high-quality range of new programmes and advanced technology applications," said UWI Pro Vice Chancellor and Principal at the Mona Campus Professor Archibald McDonald.

Director of CARIMAC Professor Hopeton Dunn said that the name change would enable CARIMAC to strengthen its regional and international presence, enhance recruitment, and better attract visiting scholars and advanced researchers.

He said that in these ways, redesignation as a school would directly benefit CARIMAC's students and existing staff and strengthen its ability to initiate or respond to major development projects with local, regional, and global partners.

Established in 1974, the Institute was initially known as 'Mass comm'. In the early 1980s, its scholarly focus was changed from 'mass communication' to 'media and communication' in line with altered approaches to communication education, and it acquired the short name CARIMAC.