Search

Across the international higher education spectrum access represents a significant issue. The literature is replete with analyses of access in various higher education systems. Low and inequitable patterns of participation in higher education are particularly prominent in developing countries. This dissertation is a case study of the higher education system of the state of Antigua and Barbuda, former British territories of the Caribbean region, Focusing on the issue of access and equity of access this study addresses the trends related to participation in higher education in this twin-island state of the Caribbean region, and analyzes factors that affect participation in this country. The study explores the role of government and institutional bodies in enhancing the rate and quality of participation in higher education in these territories, and seeks to determine factors affecting the state of preparedness of this country to participate and survive in the modern global social and economic order. The study finds that increased and more equitable rates of participation in higher education would be achieved by strengthening and reorganizing aspects of the primary and secondary education levels. Creating an integrated and carefully articulated higher education system, which caters to a wide cross section of the inhabitants of the twin­ island state, and which contains mechanisms for admissions for second chance candidates, would also serve to promote access to and equity in the higher education system of this country.

The high school English Language Arts curricula of Central Florida has faced increasing scrutiny during the past decade under often conflicting influences such as a rapidly diversifying student population, activism for and against multicultural curriculum reform, and pressure to streamline curricula and make it conform to state testing standards. Against this social backdrop, the question of how to introduce Inda-Caribbean literature at the secondary level presents unique intellectual and political challenges. On the one hand, first and second generation Inda-Caribbean migrants make up an increasingly significant percentage of Florida's student population. Like other first and second generation Caribbean migrants, Inda-Caribbean students must straddle between their modern Caribbean traditions, juxtaposed with North American societal values; however, their East Indian heritage is rarely reflected in those Caribbean texts that do make it into secondary language arts reading lists. In my thesis, I will explore some of the demographic shifts in Central Florida, consider the extent to which Inda-Caribbean texts might be regarded as representative expressions of Caribbean experience, and suggest how the inclusion of Inda-Caribbean literature in the canon might provide a model for similar curriculum reform in the state of Florida.