History

Founded in 1907, Northern Caribbean University is the oldest private tertiary institution in Jamaica, and was first known as West Indian Training School. Following a temporary closure in 1913 it resumed operations in 1919 and offered courses up to the twelfth grade. In 1936 it was renamed West Indian Training College. As its offerings developed to include theology, teacher education, secretarial science, business, and natural sciences, it became a junior college. It achieved senior college status in the late 1950's when it began to offer the Bachelor's Degree in Theology and was renamed West Indies College in 1959. Since then, baccalaureate programmes in some twenty other disciplines have been added. In 1999 the college was granted university status by the Jamaican Government, and was renamed Northern Caribbean University. Currently the university offers graduate and post-graduate programs in the sciences, religion, business and education.