UWI-CIIT Program 

GIST has always attached great importance to international exchanges and cooperation, and has established friendly relationships with dozens of universities and colleges around the world. 

In 2016, GIST established the UWI China Institute of Information Technology (UWI-CIIT) in collaboration with University of the West Indies, the first bi-culture institute of its kind in the Caribbean. The UWI-CIIT teaching building is headquartered in the beautiful Barbados and officially opened in September 2018. The two schools have paved an "Educational Silk Road" linking China and Caribbean.

GIST is the first school in China to exchange with a university in the Caribbean. The UWI-CIIT is the first university of its kind in Western hemisphere to integrate Eastern and Western cultures and aims to promote cooperation between the Caribbean and China. Also, it is supported by the local government, the Caribbean community and the Chinese government.

In January 2015 and March 2016, GIST visited the University of the West Indies twice and conducted in-depth exchanges with the president of the UWI on inter-university cooperation in running schools. The president of the UWI considered that the UWI is an important academic institution facing the Caribbean region. If GIST can cooperate the UWI and make use of its advantages of the combination of school and enterprise as well as the integration of industry and education, it will provide a solid foundation for the joint training of information technology professionals urgently needed for the economic transformation and upgrading the Caribbean region. Under the initiatvie of the leaders of the two schools, GIST signed an agreement to co-organize the "the UWI China Institute of Information Technology" at the University of the West Indies.

The UWI-CIIT is a second-level college of the UWI, located in the capital of Barbados, and plans to enroll 100 students every year, aiming to train applied talents of information technology for the Caribbean Community countries. The College implements undergraduate education in the form of cross-border segmented teaching, mainly using the "2+2" cooperative training model, that is, the first two years of study in the UWI, the second two years of study in GIST, China. Students will have a final semester of internship in Suzhou software technology related enterprises. After completing four years of study, students are awarded a bachelor's degree by the UWI and a diploma by GIST.