Caribbean Youth Unemployment a “Quiet Crisis,” UWI Principal Warns

The head of the University of the West Indies (UWI) Five Islands Campus has warned that the Caribbean faces a “quiet crisis” of youth unemployment, urging students to become part of the solution.

Speaking at the campus’s 2025 matriculation ceremony, Principal Professor Justin Robinson told incoming students that one in four young people across the region cannot find work, with young women bearing the heaviest burden.

“Unemployment among young females is on average 30 percent or higher, and when they do find work, they earn 20 percent less than their male counterparts for identical jobs,” Robinson saidThe UWI FIC Matriculation & Wel….

He described the situation as an inheritance for the new generation of students, but stressed that it should not become their legacy. “We require you to be the architects of a Caribbean transformation,” he told the record intake of 443 students.

Robinson urged the new cohort to see themselves not only as learners but as innovators and leaders who could create jobs, bridge disciplines, and confront inequality. He outlined five “missions,” including becoming job creators, thinking globally while acting locally, and building inclusive systems that lift up disadvantaged communities.

“This is your mission,” he said. “You are not just UWI students. You are the Caribbean’s best hope for breaking cycles that have trapped us for generations”The UWI FIC Matriculation & Wel….

The remarks came as the Five Islands Campus, the newest of UWI’s five campuses, recorded its largest intake since opening in 2019, drawing students from Antigua and Barbuda and across the Eastern Caribbean.

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