As part of a university federation with multiple campuses in diverse contexts across the Caribbean, the University of the West Indies (UWI) faced a complex challenge at its Five Islands campus: modernizing its academic and administrative operations without disrupting critical services for students.
Manual processes, fragmented data, and reliance on legacy infrastructure limited the campus's ability to scale, respond with agility, and deliver a consistent experience to its student community. At the same time, there was pressure to control costs and move toward a more resilient and sustainable model.
To address these challenges, the UWI Five Islands campus adopted Ellucian's Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Platform as the foundation for its institutional transformation. The project began in late October 2024, with Ellucian and UWI teams fully mobilized by March 2025. Through close collaboration and a highly committed core team, the campus met an ambitious implementation timeline, going live in July 2025.
The summer launch included Ellucian Experience and Ellucian Insights, Ellucian's central workspace and data reporting and analytics solutions, as well as key capabilities enabling data migration, student registration, finance, and accounts receivable. This approach enabled the campus to establish a modern, integrated technological foundation prepared for future growth.
- Successful go-live under an MVP approach and within defined timelines
- Registration and billing of more than 1,300 students without interruptions
- Elimination of costs associated with an additional year of external hosting
- Greater visibility and access to information through Ellucian Insights
- Unified technology foundation for future operational and academic improvements
students registered and billed on time following go live
Change is never easy, but it is necessary. By taking a deep look at our processes and capabilities, we are now in a much stronger position to build a truly streamlined and coherent system that better serves our students."
Digital transformation in higher education does not happen overnight. For the University of the West Indies Five Islands campus, the process has been an exercise in resilience, commitment, and strategic focus.
Located in Antigua and Barbuda, the Five Islands campus is part of a regional university federation with multiple operational realities. These circumstances require balancing institutional standards with local needs, all while maintaining a focus on student success.
Before implementing Ellucian's SaaS Platform, many key processes required manual intervention and extensive data analysis. To address these inefficiencies, the campus used a capability assessment model that helped identify bottlenecks and prioritize high-impact areas.
This analysis laid the groundwork for a focused and realistic implementation. Rather than attempting to transform everything at once, the team chose to move forward incrementally, ensuring that each step delivered tangible value. This approach enabled a go-live in July 2025, followed by the activation of additional capabilities in August of the same year.
The result was a more integrated operation, with centralized data and greater clarity for decision-making. Most importantly, the campus successfully registered and billed more than 1,300 students on time, avoiding delays and additional costs.
For the Five Islands team, this transformation is not just about technology, but about people and processes. The adoption of a modern SaaS platform has allowed them to establish a strong foundation to continue evolving, learning, and strengthening their institutional resilience in the face of ongoing challenges.
The Ellucian platform is not just a system upgrade, but a transformational leap that empowers our staff and students with seamless, real-time solutions, ensuring that every dollar spent translates into measurable impact and the long-term sustainability of the campus."
