Ways by which the University of the West Indies (UWI) can become more accessible for Caribbean nationals residing in non-campus territories, was one of the areas of discussion when newly installed UWI Chancellor, Sir George Alleyne met Tuesday with Prime Minister Keith Mitchell.

In what he referred to as his "first official visit since my installation", Sir George said in order to have more UWI campuses in the Region, will require the support of Caribbean Governments, the University and its 65,000 alumni.

Prime Minister Mitchell welcomed this suggestion, since current conditions are very costly for Governments to assist nationals of non-campus territories to attend one of the three UWI campuses.

Accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Gregory Bowen and Minister of Education, Claris Charles, the Prime Minister said UWI has been too complacent in its role as a pillar of Regional Integration.

"The bigger countries of the Region are benefiting much more than the smaller countries and the gap has been widening. We have to address this much more aggressively", the Prime Minister said, adding that he envisions a UWI campus in Grenada in the future.

Discussions also focussed on the role of UWI in integrating health services in the Region. Prime Minister Mitchell and Chancellor Alleyne agreed that UWI is ideally placed to facilitate this.

Chancellor Alleyne also requested that the Government of Grenada, through each Ministry, address the issue of discrimination and stigmatisation against persons with HIV/AIDS.

Prime Minister Mitchell said this would be taken into consideration as preparations for the 2004 Budget are underway.