With the local post-secondary landscape developing rapidly, it’s no surprise that a number of students are choosing to stay in Cayman to pursue their higher education degrees. With an incredible location and competitive fee schedules, Cayman has also become a hotspot for foreign students to come and study professional degrees, especially in the fields of Law and Medicine.
University College of the Cayman Islands
University College of the Cayman Islands (UCCI). offers international accreditation for its courses and has up to 2,000 students each year and around 75 full-time faculty and staff. It also has international partnerships with other universities, so students enjoy various options to study abroad while local students can select from many internship opportunities. It has a very strong STEM programme, thanks in part to the establishment of the Dr Wm Hrudey Observatory in 2012. Their Associate's, Bachelor's and Master's programmes work well alongside UCCI's strong Performing Arts programme which includes a choir, a dance troupe and a multi-awarded steelpan band, the UCCI Pandemix.
A few years ago, those in the local hotel and restaurant industry recognised that Cayman would benefit from a hospitality school, and so UCCI's School of Hospitality Studies was born. The school offers an internationally accredited Hospitality & Tourism studies programme that aims to meet existing and future needs of the Islands' tourism industry. UCCI also houses the Island’s only official Microsoft IT Academy and Cisco Networking Academy for the preparation, training and testing of a variety of Microsoft certification exams and Cisco training programmes. UCCI also offers a Nursing programme and a post-graduate diploma in Education.
International College of the Cayman Islands
Established in 1970, the International College of the Cayman Islands (ICCI) is the longest standing institution of post-secondary education in Cayman. With humble beginnings as a not-for-profit organisation, the school has long been known as the birthplace of higher education in the Cayman Islands. The school offers online, face-to-face and hybrid classes and awards certificates, Associate's, Bachelor’s and Master's degrees. Since 2002, it has been accredited locally, and in 2016 by the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE) in the US, and the Accreditation Service for International Schools, Colleges and Universities (ASIC) in the UK. With a key focus on career placement and personal development, ICCI challenges students with rigorous academics coupled with excellent service and care for students.
The Truman Bodden Law School
Established in 1982, the Truman Bodden Law School (TBLS) has been affiliated with the University of Liverpool in the UK since the late 1980s. This association validates and awards the undergraduate (LL.B) programmes. The University of Liverpool is a Russell Group University (equivalent to the US Ivy League) and the degree is internationally recognised. The LL.B Degree is also recognised as a Qualifying Law Degree by the Joint Academic Quality and Standards Committee of England and Wales and the Cayman Islands’ Legal Advisory Council. This recognition makes LL.B graduates eligible to pursue postgraduate professional qualifications in both Cayman and the UK as well as other common law jurisdictions. At a postgraduate professional level, TBLS also enjoys an affiliation with Oxford Brookes University. Successful completion of the law school’s nine-month-long Professional Practice Course (the precursor to Articles of Clerkship) leads to the award of the OBU Diploma in Legal Practice.
Other Local Further Education Options
Inspire Cayman Training
Through its partnership with Ed2Go, Inspire Cayman Training offers hundreds of online courses. Some of the courses are instructor-led and others are self-paced, so you can choose the one that will fit in with your schedule.
St. Matthew’s University School of Medicine
Cayman has a thriving medical school called St. Matthew’s which attracts most of its student population from America and other overseas countries. Students complete five semesters (three per year) of Basic Science and Pre–Clinical studies in Grand Cayman, and are then transferred to do clinical rotations at teaching hospitals in the US, Canada or UK to complete their medical degree programme. St. Matthew's MD programme is accredited by the Accreditation Commission on Colleges of Medicine (ACCM) and is one of the few international medical schools with approvals in the key states of New York and Florida.
St. Matthew's University School of Veterinary Medicine
Veterinary students complete seven semesters (three per year) of Basic Science instruction in Grand Cayman before doing a year of clinical instruction at an affiliated US or Canadian veterinary school. With the smallest class sizes of any veterinary school in North America, students have an unprecedented level of faculty support and attention. Class sizes are limited to a maximum of 20 students. It welcomes applications from all qualified candidates, including from diverse, transfer and second-career applicants. St. Matthew's University School of Veterinary Medicine is a Member Institution of the AAVMC.
Northwestern Caribbean Baptist Theological Seminary Cayman's first seminary, founded in conjunction with Dr Randy Von Kanel and the Cayman Islands Baptist Church, offers coursework towards a Bachelor's Degree taught by credentialed professors. Students can also study for a Master’s Degree through online work with an accredited US seminary.
University of the West Indies, Cayman (UWI)
The University of the West Indies is now ranked in the top 1.5% of universities across the world by Times Higher Education 2022. The University has collaborative links with over 160 universities globally, offering undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Engineering, Law, Medical Sciences, Food and Agriculture, Humanities and Education, Science and Technology and Social Sciences.
The UWI Open Campus (UWIOC) is one of five campuses and was established in 2008. It was designed to increase the range, expand the scope and improve access to the University’s programmes. It is an amalgamation of the former outreach entities within the University, which draws on the wider University’s expertise in the provision of research, distance and higher education services in the Caribbean. The UWI Open Campus currently has a student population of over 20,000, with 8,000 students enrolled in its online programmes and approximately 15,000 pursuing short and Continuing & Professional Education courses. There are currently 44 site locations of the UWIOC in the region, serving 17 countries in the English-speaking Caribbean, of which, the UWI Open Campus Cayman site is one. The UWI Open Campus Cayman site not only facilitates formal education and training, but is extensively involved in a number of community development outreach programmes in the Cayman Islands.
UWI has been consistently ranked among the top universities globally and it delivers accredited associate, undergraduate and graduate-degrees. Students can start in August or January each year. Alternatively, students can choose to join one of the five campuses around the Caribbean which offer over 800 different educational programmes
