Merger at UWI creates region’s largest business school

The Department of Management Studies and the Mona School of Business of the University of the West Indies have merged to become the Mona School of Business and Management (MSBM) effective August 1, 2012.

The single business school is within the Faculty of Social Sciences.

It is the only business school of its size and quality within the region, offering programmes at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, according to a release from the UWI’s marketing and communications office.

It said the union will produce a critical mass of scholars to significantly strengthen research capability in business and management and facilitate cutting-edge innovations to address the priorities of the nation and the wider Caribbean region.

In addition, the release said the expanded research and publication capacity, greater teaching and learning flexibility and their impact on quality, will allow the School to be better positioned to obtain institutional accreditation from the international body, the Association for the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business.

“We have created a business school that is positioned to be globally competitive, one that will attract students and faculty of the highest calibre,” said Professor Gordon Shirley, Pro Vice Chancellor and Principal of the UWI.

“The merged entity has brought us in line with models of international business schools that offer both scale and quality in all ranges of undergraduate, postgraduate and executive education, and is therefore a step in the right direction for the University,” he added.

Professor Paul Simmonds, former Dean of the business school at the University of the Virgin Islands, has been appointed executive director of MSBM.

Professor Evan Duggan, who served as executive director of the Mona School of Business for the past four years, has been appointed Dean in the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Offerings at MSBM include graduate diploma in business administration, B.Sc, M.Sc, MBA, executive-MBA, PhD and DBA degree programmes.

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