The University of the West Indies, (UWI), Mona has embarked on a programme of infrastructural development to provide quality new facilities for students as well as renovating and upgrading buildings to achieve maximum functionality and aesthetic appeal on the Campus. The flagship building in this programme is the new multi-storey Basic Medical Sciences Complex, which is expected to be completed for the start of the 2012/2013 academic year.
 
This was announced by Principal of The UWI, Mona Campus, Professor Gordon Shirley at the annual meeting of the Mona Campus Council held Friday, March 2, 2012 in the Council Room. Professor Shirley was reporting on developments at the Mona Campus over the past year.
 
He told members of the governing Campus Council that the 330,000 square foot state-of-the art Basic Medical Sciences building will provide students with a world-class environment in which to achieve their medical education. It will house facilities for Anatomy, Biochemistry, Physiology and Pharmacology and there will also be provision for physical therapy and forensic DNA. The massive structure will house a 500-seat lecture theatre, two medium-sized lecture theatres, tutorial and seminar rooms, a computer laboratory to house 100 workstations and a reading room/library. 
 
Professor Shirley informed members that construction is also well-advanced on 600 undergraduate and 400 postgraduate student rooms, which will boost room stock on the Mona Campus by 45 per cent. Work is far advanced on the postgraduate residence, located on Gibraltar Hall Road, near to the Post Office gate, and on the undergraduate residence located behind Taylor and Irvine Halls of Residence. Laboratories in the Departments of Microbiology and Pathology have also been refurbished and seminar rooms and office spaces renovated, the Principal said.
 
He pointed out that the Mona Campus is creating new opportunities to strengthen its competitiveness and finding new ways to deliver on its objectives in a constantly changing and challenging funding environment. Faced with the nearly 30 per cent cumulative cut in Government funding during the 2010/2011 financial year, Professor Shirley said that the institution has adopted an aggressive programme of expenditure reduction and evaluation of programmes to assess their relevance and reliability, while at the same time substantially improving income generation from non-traditional sources.