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Liberalisation of Higher Education in the Caribbean: Situating Matters of Access, Diversity and Equity

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Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion in Caribbean Organisations and Society

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Abstract

Across the globe, neoliberal regimes continue to impact higher education sectors. While often couched as borderless, transnational or global education, the ethos has been on the restructuring/reform exercises that alter governance structures, processes and practices within higher education (Olssen and Peters in Journal of Education Policy 20:313–345, 2005; Slaughter and Rhoades in Academic capitalism and the new economy: Markets, state and higher education. The John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2004). Central to this process is the logic of the market and policies that connect principles of new public management to those of performance, knowledge production and institutional governance (Olssen and Peters in Journal of Education Policy 20:313–345, 2005). While patterns of liberalisation have profound implications on how we govern and sustain institutions of higher education, it is also important to consider and situate issues of access, equity and diversity within Higher Education Institutions in the Caribbean. This chapter therefore presents a critical analysis of these globalising educational trends and the challenges faced by regional Institutions.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Today however, the university has evolved into a premier regional university with four physical campuses; Mona (Jamaica), St. Augustine (Trinidad and Tobago), Cave Hill (Barbados), most recent addition (Antigua & Barbuda), and Open campus, which operates as a virtual university. There are also many satellites programs across several Caribbean countries (as in the cases of, Anguilla, The Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Turks and the Caicos Islands).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago

    Jacqueline H. Stephenson, Ann Marie Bissessar & Talia Esnard

  2. The University of Trinidad and Tobago, Point Lisas, Trinidad and Tobago

    Natalie Persadie

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  1. Jacqueline H. Stephenson
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Correspondence to Jacqueline H. Stephenson .

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Stephenson, J.H., Persadie, N., Bissessar, A.M., Esnard, T. (2020). Liberalisation of Higher Education in the Caribbean: Situating Matters of Access, Diversity and Equity. In: Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion in Caribbean Organisations and Society. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47614-4_9

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