Ins & Outs of Barbados 2020

18  BARBADOS BUZZ INS& Minor Miracle Delivers a New University School of Medicine When the US-owned Ross University School of Medicine decided to relocate to Barbados and open in January 2019, local resources had just 6-months to achieve the ‘mission impossible’ of providing a suitable campus and accommodation for 1,500 students, plus faculty and staff. Miraculously, thanks to our government and private sector working hand in hand - notably Terra Caribbean real estate and Preconco construction – the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre was converted into a medical school with state-of-the-art clinical learning laboratories and the Villages at Coverley was upgraded to provide on-campus housing. And, against all the odds, RUSM’s first semester began right on time. Since then, Barbadians have warmly welcomed the newmedical students, who have quickly become part of the island’s landscape. A Gateway to Latin America Barbados is now a genuine gateway to Latin America, thanks to COPA Airlines operating weekly 3.5 hour flights between Barbados and Panama on Tuesdays and Fridays. Flying into Tocumen International Airport in Panama City, known as the ‘Hub of the Americas’, COPA offers connections to 78 cities in 32 countries on the continent. This opens up exciting new travel opportunities, not just for locals, but also visitors who might like to add an extra dimension to their Barbados trip. Codrington College Celebrates its 275th Anniversary While Codrington College is a well-known landmark in Barbados, few people are familiar with its Founder, Christopher Codrington. Born in Barbados and educated at Oxford, Codrington was considered ‘a flamboyant man of taste and sensibility’. He was also an accomplished soldier, philosopher and Governor-General of the Leeward Islands, who socialised with the most powerful people of the day in England and Europe. After Christopher Codrington’s death in 1710, part of his will bequeathed his Barbadian Estates to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG), which led to the foundation of The Lodge School and subsequently Codrington College in 1745. With his wealth having been built upon profits from a brutal period of African enslavement in the West Indies, his bequest was quite revolutionary. Faced with initial opposition from the planters, the SPG found it difficult to carry out the terms of Codrington’s unusual will. Subsequent trustees faced similar challenges, compounded by hurricanes, fires, debt and periods of social and political upheaval. Despite this volatile past, these twin places of learning, The Lodge School and Codrington College, have enjoyed outstanding success over two challenging centuries. This 275th anniversary, while celebrating the accomplishments of the past, will seek to plan novel directions for the future, inspired by Codrington’s intellectual dynamism. Events are planned throughout the year, including the publication of a book by Dr. Lennox Honeychurch. Facebook @CodringtonCollege275 University of the West Indies Improves Global Ranking The University of theWest Indies is going up in the prestigious Times Higher Education World University Rankings. The 2020 report ranks UWI at #1 in the Caribbean, in the top 2% of Latin America, and in the top 4% of the approximately 28,000 registered universities worldwide. Having been founded in 1948 with just 33 medical students, UWI today has some 50,000 students studying at four campuses - Cave Hill in Barbados, Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Open Campus – serving 17 separate countries of the English-speaking Caribbean and stretching across one million square miles of ocean. Projects Earmarked for Bridgetown and Carlisle Bay The Steel Building – a 12-storey, 184-room, four-star boutique-style hotel with 20 branded apartments on the top two floors. The hotel will have a rooftop pool, dining, meeting and business facilities. • The House of Pillars – a 9-storey condominium apartment building incorporating retail and restaurant uses. • The Royal Mail Building – a 6-storey condominium apartment building with commercial uses on the ground floor. • Fort Willoughby – a lighthouse restaurant, water-taxi station, beach club, public beach access, 2-storey parking garage with 200 spaces and rooftop park and jogging trail. • Carlisle House – a new branded 12-storey hotel. • Hyatt - a $300 million hotel with 400 rooms and 40 condos. Awaiting final studies. Codrington College Photo: Willie Alleyne courtesy BTMI