The Impact of Internationalization on the Regionalization of Higher Education in the English-speaking Caribbean: A Case Study of the University of the West Indies

The University of the West Indies (UWI) is one of two regional universities in the world. In the history of the 'West Indies,' successive European colonizers attempted to form a federation of the Windward and Leeward Islands. Both the colonial administration and the independence movements which created a rising elite in these former British colonies, had political and economic motivations for establishing a regional university, and advancing functional cooperation through an integration mechanism - the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Following the 1958 to 1962 Federation experiment, the UWI became enshrined as a symbol of Caribbean integration. But the challenges of surviving and competing in the global economy have persisted. In their post independence struggles for economic survival, the Anglophone Caribbean seems to have substituted political for economic dependence, with continued reliance on extra-regional funding authorities. As such, in the new neoliberal reality, the UWI must produce human capital - knowledge workers - to fulfill labour market needs; develop commercial research, and support continued regional economic development, with reduced government funding, under increasing levels of accountability. With globalization and internationalization, the UWI is in the process of broadening its mandate, to include the other linguistic and ethnocultural groups, constituting the larger Caribbean area, including Central and Latin America. As part of its internationalization strategy, it has increased inter-institutional partnerships and other collaborative practices, within the region and extra-regionally. Globalization, neoliberalism, regionalization and internationalization have also given rise to many challenges. They have facilitated intercultural experiences, academic mobility and non-traditional delivery mechanisms in higher education. However, the struggles to finance national economies and higher education, have led to tensions in national sovereignty and regional aspirations within CARICOM. The central question for this research was whether internationalization is advancing or hindering regionalization mandate of the University of the West Indies in the Anglophone Caribbean.Ph.D