At a short ceremony on Friday March 11, 2016 Monroe College officially opened its campus now relocated to Vide Bouteille. Her Excellency Dame Pearlette Louisy, Governor General of Saint Lucia, cut the ribbon at the entrance of the college to ceremoniously declare the college’s new facility open. At the opening ceremony Director of administration, Mr. Gus Small, noted that this is part of the college administration’s ongoing efforts “to make this space friendly and conducive to learning.” He stated that the new facilities are also part of the administration’s “vision that the Saint Lucia Campus be as modern as possible, as are the campuses in New York”.
Added Mr. Small: “The Monroe College Campus door we are going to officially open today is punctuated by several facts” and he enumerated some noted achievements by Monroe College including ranked most affordable Private College in New York State (U.S News and World Report), and Online bachelor’s degree program ranked third in New York State (US News and World Report).
75 countries are represented at Monroe College; over 14,000 students have graduated over the past five years with over 40,000 alumni worldwide.
In Saint Lucia, Monroe College has graduated over 500 students from across the Caribbean region in the past eight years.
The college provides a scholarship grant of over EC$300,000 to the Government and people of Saint Lucia annually and support for all relevant educational activities, be it Government or private enterprises seeking to educate the people of Saint Lucia and the region.
A team of administrative officials, led by Executive Vice President Mr. Marc Jerome from Monroe College’s New York campuses, was present. The team included Mr. David Dimond, Senior Vice President; Dr. Jacinth Coultman, Asst. Vice President, Academic Affairs and Mr. Parkus Ewan, Director, Network Infrastructure.
Mr. Jerome, in brief remarks, stated that the relocation of the campus was part of the plan to ensure that the investments made in Saint Lucia benefit Saint Lucian and Caribbean students.
Among speakers were Saint Lucia’s Minister of Education, Human Resource Development and Labour, Hon. Dr. Robert Lewis, who urged Monroe College to continue working with the government of Saint Lucia to ensure it meets its goal of “one university graduate per household”. Representing the Prime Minister of Saint Lucia was Hon. Lorne Theophilius, Minister for Tourism, Creative Industries and Heritage, who thanked Monroe College for its sterling contributions, not only to education but to Saint Lucia’s economy.
The campus was relocated from Barnard Hill, Castries, after eight years. Classes started at the new campus in January 2016.
