Brief history

The Caribbean Wesleyan College (1996) was formed as a result of the decision taken by the 1994 General Conference of the Wesleyan Church to rationalize the existence of its two Bible Colleges, namely the Jamaica Wesleyan Bible Institute (1977) and the Caribbean Wesleyan College (1974) located in Barbados.

The first effort to start a training program for pastors in Jamaica, from which the college dates its beginning, was by two missionaries under the auspices of Missionary Bands of the World in August 1931.  A second effort toward a more permanent Bible School was made in 1948, but proved unsuccessful because of the missionaries’ illness. In 1951 the Bible School was reopened; and the following year it was officially called, “Missionary Bands Bible Institute” .In 1970, the school was assigned to serve the Western Educational Area of the Wesleyan Church comprising Jamaica Districts and Grand Cayman. The denomination’s name change had been the result of mergers of several groups including the Missionary Bands in 1959 and 1968.  The school was officially renamed “Jamaica Wesleyan Bible Institute” in 1977, and served its constituents until it was merged in 1996 with the Caribbean Wesleyan College of Barbados, thus becoming the Caribbean Wesleyan College.

The Caribbean Wesleyan College (1974) of Barbados first opened its doors in Jamaica in 1942 as the “Caribbean Pilgrim College.”  The original plan was for the college to serve the entire Caribbean area, but at the time this proved impractical and costly.  On the basis of the distribution of the Pilgrim Holiness membership, the decision was taken to relocate the school to the Eastern Caribbean, and Barbados was chosen as the new site.  The Pilgrim Holiness College reopened in Barbarees Hill, Barbados in 1951.  As a result of the 1968 merger between the Pilgrim Holiness Church and the Wesleyan Methodist Church, the school was assigned to serve the Eastern Educational Area stretching from the Virgin Islands in the Northern Caribbean to Trinidad and Tobago in the Southern Caribbean.  In 1974 the school was officially renamed the Caribbean Wesleyan College and served its constituents until it was merged with the Jamaica Wesleyan Bible Institute, becoming the Caribbean Wesleyan College (1996), now located on the present Jamaican site.

Caribbean Wesleyan College (CWC) is fully accredited by the Caribbean Evangelical Theological Association (CETA), a member of the International Council for Evangelical Theological Education (ICETE). The programmes of the College are fully accredited by the University Council of Jamaica (UCJ), the Ministry of Education’s recognized accrediting agency for Tertiary Level Institutions in the country.

Accreditation

Caribbean Wesleyan College (CWC) is fully accredited by the Caribbean Evangelical Theological Association (CETA), a member of the International Council for Evangelical Theological Education (ICETE). The college is registered with the University Council of Jamaica, the Ministry of Education’s recognized accrediting agency for tertiary level institutions in the country. Programmes are fully accredited by University Council of Jamaica (UCJ)