The foundation in 1965 of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Jamaica (ICAJ) was the fruit of agitation by Jamaican nationalists to create an indigenous accounting institution, which would give greater opportunity to Jamaicans and replace expatriate with Jamaican accountants, trained and examined by the ICAJ. Durable associations with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, the University of the West Indies and the University of Technology (formerly the College of Arts, Science and Technology) have shaped the ICAJ's evolution as an educational institution. The ICAJ also added to its role of training accountants that of advising accountancy professionals, making an input into government policy and informing public opinion. The Institute, responding to initiatives that encouraged closer Caribbean cooperation, was very active in the establishment of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean. The original membership of twenty men in 1965 has risen to over one thousand members, almost equally divided between men and women.