UNESCO SCIENCE REPORT

Caricom
The second programme is the Sagicor Visionaries Challenge,
sponsored jointly by the Caribbean Science Foundation,
Sagicor Life Inc., a Caribbean company offering financial
services, and the Caribbean Examinations Council. The
Sagicor Visionaries Challenge runs stimulating workshops in
secondary schools for pupils and their teachers to brainstorm
ideas for innovation and ways of improving the teaching of
science subjects and mathematics. The aim is to encourage
pupils to develop effective, innovative and sustainable
solutions to the challenges facing them. The scheme includes
mentorship and the organization of competitions.
Figure 6.6: Public expenditure on education,
2012 or closest year
Public expenditure on
higher education (% GDP)
Jamaica
Barbados
1.07
1.70
6.12
5.61
Total public expenditure
on education (% GDP)
Better co-ordination should avoid duplication
While four regional organizations seem an adequate number
to serve a population of about seven million, there has not
generally been any co-ordination of activities up to now,
even though this would avoid duplication and enhance
co-operation. This led Dr Keith Mitchell to launch the
CARICOM Science, Technology and Innovation Committee
in January 2014. The committee has a mandate to work with
existing regional bodies rather than competing with them;
its objectives are to:
n identify and prioritize areas of interest in science and
engineering for regional development;
n formulate projects;
St Vincent & Grenadines
(2010)
St Lucia (2011)
Higher education as a share of total education expenditure (%)
Barbados
Jamaica
0.36
5.13
0.22 4.41
17.56
30.22
n work closely with all regional bodies that will be
implementing the projects;
n help raise project funding; and
St Vincent & Grenadines
(2010)
7.01
n advise the prime minister responsible for S&T within
CARICOM.
There are currently six committee members, plus a
representative of the diaspora from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in the USA. The committee is planning
to hold a high-level ministerial meeting in 2015.
TRENDS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
St Lucia (2011) 5.01
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics
support for UWI, which has reacted by generating over 60%
of its income in the 2013/2014 academic year. Barbados is
heading in the same direction, despite internal opposition,
and Trinidad and Tobago is expected to follow suit.
Chapter 6
A wavering commitment to higher education
The CARICOM countries spend 4–6% of GDP on education,
according to available data (Figure 6.6). Those with
universities to support tend to spend more than those which
do not. This level of expenditure is similar to that of Brazil
(5.8%), France (5.7%), Germany (5.1%) and South Africa (6.6%).
Expenditure on higher education has become a controversial
topic; it is argued that it is expensive and consumes a large
proportion of the education budget (18% in Jamaica and
30% in Barbados), at the expense of early childhood and
secondary-level education. In rebalancing its own education
expenditure, the Jamaican government has slashed its
Mona Campus: a success story
Of UWI’s four campuses, the Mona Campus in Jamaica has
demonstrated the greatest resilience; it is leading the way in
putting innovative funding mechanisms in place for tertiary
education: in 1999/2000, the 17 contributing Caribbean
governments covered nearly 65% of the campus’s income; by
2009/2010, this share had dwindled to 50% and by 2013/2014
to 34%. The Mona Campus has developed cost containment
measures and new revenue streams based on supplementary
tuition fees for high-demand teaching programmes such as
medicine (since 2006), law (2009) and engineering (2012), as
well as some commercial activities such as business process
outsourcing and fees earned from service provision.
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