Community colleges embracing change: The anglophone caribbean perspective

Abstract

Caribbean countries are small states, vulnerable to global economic shifts. It is therefore imperative that the governments invest in available resources that can improve the economic and social conditions of the countries and the people. As human capital is a vital and necessary resource, quality education for the human capital is fundamental in strengthening the capacity of the countries. Investing in education, particularly tertiary education, is paramount, to benefit from the information and technological explosion taking place. Tertiary education is required to understand the intricacies of new systems and provide the analysis needed for experimentation and new ways of exploiting resources and systems to generate economic growth and improve social standards. Geography. This chapter examines the situation in Anglophone Caribbean, commonly referred to as the British West Indies. These countries include Jamaica, Bermuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, The Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, The Cayman Islands, Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, St. Kitts and Nevis, Guyana, St. Lucia, Belize, Anguilla, Barbados and British Virgin Islands (BVI). These islands were originally inhabited by Aborigines, the Arawaks, Caribs, and Mayans, until they were colonialised by Europeans. The unfamiliar culture and life style of the Europeans negatively affected the indigenous peoples and many of them died, particularly the Arawaks. There are still small groups of Caribs in Dominica, Amerindians in Guyana and Mayans in Suriname and Belize. The islands went through periods of slavery and colonization and, with the exception of the Cayman Islands, Montserrat, BVI, and Turks and Caicos Islands which have remained dependents of Britain, have become independent states. As each country has adopted a model of the systems of operation developed by their colonizer, the political, legal and education systems of the independent countries remain similar to the British model. © 2009 Springer Netherlands.