The University of the West Indies, Mona has received The Gleaner Honour Award in the category of Education for 2008. The Award was presented to recognize the UWI’s outstanding achievement in contributing professionals, research and other resources for Jamaica's national development.

The campus produces research in a wide range of areas that is directly relevant to economic development, and deployed its academic and senior administrative staff in public service, community development and consultancy engagements that directly impact the nation's development agenda.

In October 2007, the university raised Jamaica's research profile when Professor Anthony Chen was named among the global researchers who shared with the former United States Vice-President Al Gore the honour of receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for their ground-breaking work on climate change.

The University of the West Indies, Mona is also the Government's first port of call for research into critical areas affecting Jamaica's development, such as agriculture, crime and security, health-related issues and education, including early childhood education. It is not accidental that among those leading this year's national honours list were three professors from the University of the West Indies, Mona - Professor Anthony Chen, the Order of Merit; Professor Peter Figueroa for outstanding service in the field of epidemiology and in the development of the HIV/AIDS Awareness and Prevention Programme, the Order of Jamaica; and Professor Barbara Bailey for her distinguished contribution to education and gender studies, the Order of Jamaica.
Housed at UWI, Mona is the Caribbean Genetics Institute (CARIGEN), the first and only research facility of its kind in the Caribbean offering DNA testing of the highest level. Over the year, it has continued to assist police investigations into serious crimes. In addition, the newly established Mona GeoInformatix has produced a diversified suite of products and services that meet local needs, providing to the public and private sectors.The University of the West Indies has also been the leader in applying technology to investigate and solve national development challenges and provide improvements in areas such as criminal investigation, housing development and malaria mapping and other challenges. 

Campus wide, various new courses and programmes were developed or approved during the year to address Jamaica's development imperative and market demand. These include a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Caribbean sign language interpreting, a BA in entertainment and cultural enterprise management, a BA in gender and development studies and a master of science in telecommunications policy and technology management.

Responding to the demand for programmes in the medical sciences, the Faculty of Medical Sciences increased its intake in the MBBS and nursing programmes by 100 per cent and 300 per cent, respectively. Significantly, this increased intake was at no cost to taxpayers since many of these students pay the full economic cost of their tuition.
Additionally, the UWI Mona campus, in responding to the needs for training in the Western region of the country opened in September, its satellite site in Montego Bay to 168 students pursuing careers in management studies, media and communications, hospitality and tourism management and other programmes. The location also provides training for medical students registered at the Mona campus who complete clerkships at the Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay. We expect to increase this number significantly over the next few years.