The Ramphal Institute in association with Education International, Belgium

Education and Sustainable Development Goals in the Commonwealth and

Beyond: Shifting the Discourse
Hamilton House, Marbledon Place, London, April 26-27, 2016

Panel: Online Education Issues in Higher Education for SDG4

Key Discussant: Karen Ford-Warner, Campus Registrar, University of the West Indies,
Open Campus

BRINGING THE UWI

TO YOU
A Community approach to Online and
Distance Education

THE CARIBBEAN CONTEXT

16 of 17 UWI Contributing States (excluding Guyana) fall into the
High Human Development category of the UN Human
Development Report 2015, ranging from The Bahamas at #55 to
Belize at #101; Guyana Medium category at #124
Small open economies

In 2015
Commodity producing countries saw sharp falls in growth
Tourism-reliant countries had a relatively good year
Vulnerability to natural disasters (e.g. hurricanes in Dominica and The
Bahamas and drought affecting agriculture)
Consistently sluggish growth lagging behind the rest of the world
Low productivity and lack of competitiveness

THE CARIBBEAN CONTEXT

Unemployment remains a concern; many of the BMCs
of the CDB continued to experience double-digit
unemployment rates

Youth unemployment in 2015 among the highest in the

world
High level of indebtedness
Need an educated and flexible work force
Need human capital development investing in quality
education for all
Source: IMF WEO Database, Caribbean Development Bank
estimates

THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST

INDIES (THE UWI)
Evolved from the University College of the West Indies
(UCWI) which was established in 1948 by Royal Charter,
affiliated to the University of London
In 1962, incorporated by Royal Charter as an
independent, autonomous institution granting its own
degrees
One of two regional higher education institutions in the
world ; the other being the University of the South Pacific
Largest, most longstanding higher education provider in
the Commonwealth Caribbean

THE UWI
Serves17 English-speaking countries and territories; 3
physical campuses located in Jamaica, Barbados and
Trinidad and Tobago; UWI Open Campus has 44 Site
locations
Faculty and students from more than 40 countries
worldwide
Collaborative links with 160 Universities globally
Offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options
in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities and
Education, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology and
Social Sciences
18 UWI Alumni have served as Caribbean Heads of
Government

PROVIDING ACCESS FOR

ALL TO LIFE LONG
LEARNING
THE ROLE OF DISTANCE
AND ONLINE EDUCATION

DEFINITIONS
DISTANCE EDUCATION
Education delivered to
students who are not
physically in the same
location as the source of
the delivery

ONLINE LEARNING
Courses or programmes
that are delivered wholly
or in part via the internet.

A HISTORY OF DISTANCE
EDUCATION AT UWI
1948 - 1962 Establishment of the UWI and Extra Mural
Departments in the region

Sir Philip Sherlock

First Director 19471958

1960S TO 1980
Challenge Examinations
Cultural Outreach

Distance Courses supported by visiting Lecturers/Resident Tutors

Prison Outreach programmes (e.g. in Barbados)
Use of Radio Education Unit

Prof. Rex Nettleford

Director 1971-1996

HISTORY OF DISTANCE
EDUCATION 1981- 2004
UWI Distance Teaching Experiment (UWIDITE)/UWIDEC

Audio Teleconferencing

Dr. Lawrence Carrington

Director 1996-2007

2004- PRESENT

Introduction of
Blended
programming

Formation of UWI
Open Campus
2008

Move to
develop totally
online
programmes

DEMAND FOR ONLINE AND

DISTANCE EDUCATION IN THE
CARIBBEAN
the market for foreign on-line and distance
learning has been identified as an area of
potential growth particularly in regions such as
the Anglophone Caribbean where
populations are widely dispersed.(Didou
Aupetit and Jokivirta, 2007, p. 8)

APPROXIMATELY 66 UK HE PROVIDERS
OPERATING IN THE REGION WITH APPROX
22,500 PERSONS ENROLLED

GROWTH IN OC REGIONAL
ONLINE REGISTRATION 20082014
Open Campus
Total Enrolment Statistics 2007/08 - 2013/14

8000

6932

7000

6499

6449

6181

Student Enrolment

6000

5000

4550

4545
4211

4000

3000

2000

1000

2007/08

2008/09

2009/10

2010/11

Academic Year

2011/12

2012/13

2013/14

ONLINE LEARNING IN THE

USA
Over 6.7 million students in 2011, an
increase of 570,000 students over the
previous year.
32% of all HE students take at least 1
online course.
77% of academic leaders rate the learning
outcomes in online education as the same or
superior to those in face-to-face.
69.1% of chief academic leaders say that
online learning is critical to their long-term
strategy

UWI OPEN CAMPUS ROOTED

IN OUR COMMUNITIES

UWI OPEN CAMPUS

ONLINE, ON SITE, ON DEMAND

Established in 2008
Amalgamation of former outreach entities
To serve the rural and underserved communities of the
region
To increase the range, expand the scope and improve
access to the Universitys programmes

Current student population of over 20,000, with 5,000

students enrolled in online programmes and
approximately 15,000 pursuing short and professional
development programmes, face-to-face
17 countries, 44 Site locations

MODELS OF ONLINE
LEARNING
Economic Model
Totally asynchronous no real time
interactions
Mixed Model
some synchronous interactions
through web-based interaction
Blended

online/face-to-face, physical interactions

through tutors and support on-site

THE OPEN CAMPUS MODEL

OF COMMUNITY DISTANCE
AND ONLINE LEARNING

Creating
Access

Increasing
participation

Pastoral Care
Online, On
site and On
Demand

Financial
sustainability

OPPORTUNITY #1 INTERNET
PENETRATION
.
INTERNET USERS AND 2014 POPULATION STATS FOR THE AMERICAS

REGIONS

Population
( 2014 Est. )

% Pop.
America

Internet Users
30-Jun-2014

% Population
( Penetration )

% Users
America

Facebook
31-Dec-2012

North America

353,860,227

36.6 %

310,322,257

87.7 %

49.2 %

182,403,640

South America

406,194,811

42.0 %

230,727,557

56.8 %

36.6 %

142,708,440

Central America

164,210,961

17.0 %

72,373,646

44.1 %

11.5 %

48,933,540

41,873,409

4.3 %

17,211,350

41.1 %

2.7 %

6,397,080

966,139,408

100.0 %

630,634,819

65.3 %

100.0 %

380,442,700

The Caribbean
TOTAL THE AMERICAS
Internet World Stats .

Internet Usage and Population Statistics for the Caribbean

CARIBBEAN

Population
( 2014 Est. )

% Pop.
Carib.

Internet Usage,
30-June-2014

% Population
(Penetration)

Users
% Region

Facebook
Subscribers

Anguilla

16,086

0.0 %

10,424

64.8 %

0.1 %

7,200

Antigua & Barbuda

91,295

0.2 %

81,545

89.3 %

0.5 %

30,420

Bahamas

321,834

0.8 %

293,875

91.3 %

1.7 %

167,920

Barbados

289,680

0.7 %

224,588

77.5 %

1.3 %

122,220

British Virgin Islands

32,680

0.1 %

14,620

44.7 %

0.1 %

9,360

Cayman Islands

54,914

0.1 %

47,003

85.6 %

0.3 %

30,380

Dominica

73,449

0.2 %

43,335

59.0 %

0.3 %

24,420

Grenada

110,152

0.3 %

47,903

43.5 %

0.3 %

29,080

Jamaica

2,930,050

7.0 %

1,581,100

54.0 %

9.2 %

677,960

5,215

0.0 %

2,847

54.6 %

0.0 %

n/a

51,538

0.1 %

41,230

80.0 %

0.2 %

22,600

Saint Lucia

163,362

0.4 %

142,900

87.5 %

0.8 %

59,000

St. Vincent & Grenadines

102,918

0.2 %

76,000

73.8 %

0.4 %

38,640

1,223,916

2.9 %

780,858

63.8%

4.5 %

484,780

49,070

0.1 %

14,760

30.1 %

0.1 %

13,900

41,873,409

100.0 %

17,211,359

41.1 %

100.0 %

6,397,080

Monserrat
St. Kitts & Nevis

Trinidad & Tobago

Turks & Caicos
TOTAL CARIBBEAN
Internetworldstats.com..

OPPORTUNITY # 2
INCREASING ACCESS
TO QUALITY PROGRAMMES
All Open Campus online
programmes are submitted
through the same quality
assurance process as face to
face

Accreditation in Barbados,
Trinidad and Tobago and
Jamaica as well as agreement
for mutual recognition in other
countries of the region

OPPORTUNITY # 3
FINANCING
Economic downturn is an opportunity
for online and distance

Pay as you go payment by

course; payment plans; UWI and other
Scholarships

RECOMMENDATIONS

INTERNET
ACCESSIBILITY
MUST BE A
PRIORITY

ONLINE
PROGRAMMING
FROM THE
SECONDARY
LEVEL
ALLOWING FOR
STUDENTS TO
BECOME
DIGITALLY
LITERATE AND
PREPARED FOR
HIGHER
EDUCATION

ACCESS
COURSES

PRIOR
LEARNING
ASSESSMENT AS
A ROUTE FOR
RAPID
PROGRESS

PARTNERSHIPS

REFERENCES
Review of UK Transnational Education Caribbean, 2015 Report
of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, UK
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2014/2014023.pdf
A Social Justice Model
http://safeguardingstudentlearning.net/wpcontent/uploads/2012/04/Social-Justice-FrameworkFINAL2.pdf
Warrican et. Al (2014) Predictors of Student Success in an
Online Learning Environment in the English-Speaking Caribbean
Open Praxis, vol. 6 issue 4, OctoberDecember 2014, pp. 331
346
http://onlinelearningconsortium.org/survey_report/changingcourse-ten-years-tracking-online-education-united-states

REFERENCES
Fergus, Howard, Bernard, Lennox, Soares, Judith, Breaking
Down the Walls: An Evolution of the Extra-Mural
Department, The University of the West Indies, 1947-2000
(2007), School of Continuing Studies, The University of the
West Indies

Caribbean Development Bank 2015 Economic Report

and 2016 Forecast
http://www.caribank.org/publications/featuredpublications/2015-economic-review-and-2016forecast
UN Human Development Report 2015
http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/2015_human_d
evelopment_report.pdf

THANK YOU
Online
www.open.uwi.edu
On Site
On Demand
pla@open.uwi.edu
marketing@open.uwi.edu