UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES LAUNCHES RISE CARIBBEAN TO BOOST EDUCATION

BRIDGETOWN — University of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill campus launched an initiative to boost education in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean on September 15. The initiative, named, RISE Caribbean – the Research Initiative for Supporting Education in the Caribbean, is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through a grant of $3.6 million, with counterpart contributions of $3 from the Campus

The initiative aims to address the shortage of education research data in the region which can be used to inform educational planning, policy, and practice. To further address this shortage, a key aspect of RISE Caribbean is the establishment of the Caribbean Educational Research Center (CERC) in the Faculty of Humanities and Education at the Cave Hill campus. The Center will have offices in the old Mutual Building in Bridgetown.

The CERC, in partnership with the University of South Florida, and the Eastern Caribbean Joint Board of Teacher Education, will investigate issues affecting education in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean. One of the main pillars of the CERC is to provide the education sector with research evidence to support planning, policy making and practice. It is expected that evidence-based decisions will contribute to improvements in educational outcomes among primary and secondary school students across the region.

Discussing the RISE Caribbean initiative, Professor Landis noted, “High quality data and research is the substrate for good decision making. The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, is very pleased to be partnering with USAID to undertake the necessary research in the OECS to underpin educational policy and planning for the benefit of primary and secondary schools in the region.