While geography has helped to facilitate collaboration among higher education institutions (HEIs) in the Caribbean, history and language have tended to circumscribe it. However, there is growing recognition that collaboration, especially through research and mobility programmes, can advance institutional capacity building and successful knowledge transfer. Although funding for collaboration has not been bountiful, existing schemes have undoubtedly encouraged it and can have greater impact if increased.
Despite the tradition of collaboration among Caribbean HEIs and between them and EU HEIs which has had an impact on capacity building, the human development and the infrastructural deficit in the Caribbean stymies the expansion of sustainable relationships. Targeted support which recognises the special needs of countries such as those in the Caribbean and includes actions to facilitate a greater participation rate, will strengthen Caribbean HEIs so that they can participate more effectively in EU-funded programmes. Read Paper
David Rampersad, is the Executive Director of the Central Office for Regional & International Affairs at the University of the West Indies. This paper is a contribution to the EU-LAC Foundation's Newsletter of September 2014 dedicated to Higher Education.