Greater Caribbean Postgraduate Needs Assessment

During the six-month period of October 2003 through March 2004, London Metropolitan University, through its Caribbean Studies Centre, undertook a postgraduate needs assessment of what has come to be known as the Greater Caribbean - spanning Anglophone, Francophone, Hispanic and Dutch linguistic subregions of the insular and mainland circum-Caribbean. The assessment was motivated by a desire to explore possible Euro-Caribbean collaborative models to meet those needs; and has proved timely, as the need for, and drive to, cooperation is mounting.

The following are some of the summary findings from the needs assessment. Further details relating to this can be obtained from Professor Jean Stubbs, director of the Caribbean Studies Centre; and we particularly encourage HEIs in the region to contact us to discuss the findings, and their potential participation in future collaborative endeavours.

140 Greater Caribbean Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) were identified;
The vast majority of HEIs in the region are Hispanic, with roughly half located in just 4 countries - Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Venezuela;
Likewise, more than four in five postgraduate level courses available in the Greater Caribbean are found in Hispanic countries;
More than half of all postgraduate courses available in the Greater Caribbean are concentrated in just 10 HEIs: University of the West Indies, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Universidad de la Habana (Cuba), ISPJAE (Cuba), Universidad Veracruzana (Mexico), Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico, Universidad de Cartagena (Colombia), Universidad de Matanzas (Cuba) and Universidad de Oriente (Venezuela). These are closely followed by Universidad del Norte (Colombia), Universidad de Oriente (Cuba), Universidad de Yucatán (Mexico) and Université des Antilles et de la Guyane;
Science and Technology courses are the most provided for (35% of all courses), followed by Business and Law (20%), Medical and Health-related (18%), Humanities and Social Sciences (16%) and Education (11%).

Based on the responses received to a questionnaire that was sent to the HEIs, existing postgraduate strengths and weaknesses point to two forms of need:

Need through stength: where an HEI has a marked specialisation in a particular field, and a need for collaborative relationships with similarly specialised HEIs. The most important, in terms of the numbers of HEIs potentially interested in supportive relationships, are Education, and Administration & Management;
Need through weakness: where an HEI has an apparent weakness in a particular field and a need for links with HEIs strong in the field, judged by the number of HEIs that teach a subject without postgraduate provision and indicated this subject would benefit from supportive links with other HEIs. The most important, in terms of numbers, is Administration & Management;
Education and Administration & Management are also the two areas for which there appears to be the most widespread epertise that could be shared on a postgraduate level;
Of the other subjects for which a high level of need was expressed, a pool of expertise appears to be available in the Caribbean for: Agriculture, Information Technology, Mathematics, Economics, Medical Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Law, Chemistry, Languages and Engineering;
In a number of subjects, for which a notable level of need was expressed, there is much scarcer potential for provision: notably Communications, History, Biology and Nursing;
The areas emerging for collaborative research relationships are: Business Management, Agriculture, Sustainable Agriculture, Plant Biotechnology, Botany, Forestry, Caribbean Studies, Development Studies, Productivity and Competitiveness, High Power Electrical Systems, Energy, Environment, Human Development, Epidemiology, Regional Languages, Tourism, Natural Products, Economics, Education, Seismology and Marine Sciences;