Six outstanding postgraduate students from the University of the West Indies (UWI) were on Monday presented with the 60th Anniversary Mona Scholarship awards for their contribution to research.

Principal of UWI, Professor Gordon Shirley, said the scholarships, tenable for two years, have been awarded to postgraduate research students whose programmes of study have the potential to give credence to the anniversary theme, 'Caribbean impact, Global reach'.

He said it was agreed that six students would be awarded the scholarship to mark the six decades of the university's establishment.

Shirley, however, noted that the UWI would have liked to grant the scholarship to 60 students rather than six, but said limited resources did not make this possible.

Postgraduate students

Two other postgraduate students were also awarded the Sidrak scholarship and one other the West Indies Group Teachers (WIGUT) 50th Anniversary Scholarship.

The Sidrak scholarship was established to honour the late Professor George H. Sidrak for his over 40 years of dedicated and excellent service to the UWI.

The scholarship was awarded to graduate students conducting research in any aspect of plant science (botany) in the Department of Life Sciences. Each students will receive $400, 000 per year.

The recipient of the WIGUT scholarship will receive $600,000 over a period of two years.

Setu Monroe, the sole male to be awarded a scholarship on Monday, said he felt proud of his achievement. He is currently pursuing a Masters of Philosophy in botany and was honoured with the Sidrak scholarship for his research on the importance of Jamaica's Cockpit Country.

Monroe said he was currently working to establish a mentoring programme at his church where he and a few other young men would become big brothers to younger males in his congregation.