Sir Arthur Lewis Community College

The Sir Arthur Lewis Community College was established under an Act No. 8 of 1985, to provide a place of education offering instruction in: Agriculture; Arts Science and General Studies; Health Science; Teacher Education and Educational Administration Technical Education and Management Studies And in such other fields of education as the Minister may from time to time determine. Prior to the establishment of the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College, tertiary education was provided at three separate institutions situated at Morne Fortune, each with a Principal. These institutions were referred to as the Morne Educational Complex and were as follows: "The St. Lucia Teacher's College" (established in 1963 at Sans Soucis and later transfered to Morne Fortune in 1968; "The Morne Fortune Technical College" (established at the Morne in 1970); "The St. Lucia 'A' Level College" (Established at the Moarme in 1974). Morne Fortune simply referred to as The Morne has a long history of battles and bloodshed. The military ruins there were converted and refurbished for educational purposes with considerable assistance from the British Development Division of the United Kingdom. As early as 1971, the need for integration was recognized and a few initiatives were taken, namely, a Science block was built to serve the three institutions; the Library to the University Centre, University of the West Indies, was absorbed into the Library of the Morne Educational Complex, certain activities and budgetary aspects of the estimates from the three institutions were identified as Common Services and a Bursar was appointed to administer them. By 1983, the process of integration was further accelerated with the appointment by the Minster for Education of a Task Force on the Integration of the Morne Educational Complex. The report of the Task Force included a recommendation for the establishment of a Community College, and put forward comprehensive proposals for the development of such a Community College. A Committee was appointed in 1983 by the Prime Minister to make recommendations to Government on ways in which fitting tribute should be paid to Sir Arthur Lewis, a distinguished son of Saint Lucia who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics. The report of the Committee, which was accepted by Government, included among other things a recommendation that the Community College to be established on the Morne should be named Sir Arthur Lewis Community College. With the establishment of the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College, the institutions, which formed part of the Morne Educational Complex, ceased to exist as separate administrative units .