Introduction

The Latin American-Caribbean-Centre (LACC) continued to make strides in advancing the strategic globalisation agenda of The University of the West Indies (The UWI) by building bridges, opening doors and fostering relations with institutions and networks of higher education throughout the Americas and across the Atlantic to the Ibero-American countries of Europe. The Centre has created new avenues for joint research, mobility and targeted collaborations.

the regional and international scope of the work carried out by LACC, it contributes to the development of partnerships and to the expansion of tertiary education as envisioned under the Agility and Access pillars of The UWI Triple A Strategy 2017–2022.

Its new venture in coordination of research projects, LACC is also contributing to The UWI’s “Revenue Revolution”, as envisioned in the Strategic Plan 2023–2028.

Agility

Global Projects

Connecting Climate Minds

On 26th April, 2023, the Latin American-Caribbean Centre (LACC) of The University of the West Indies (The UWI) was notified of its successful bid to be the Regional Community Convenor (RCC) for the region of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) in the global project, Connecting Climate Minds.

This project, managed by Imperial College London and funded by Wellcome, was undertaken to ensure that the global climate and mental health community can become strongly connected, with a shared understanding and vision across diverse disciplines, and develop into a thriving global eco-system better equipped to respond to barriers and opportunities. The project’s ambition is to support a growing, truly global, trans-disciplinary and multi-sector climate change and mental health community to align and come together, and catalyse further work at this vital intersection of two of the greatest global crises. Working inclusively and together, the project has two overarching objectives:

• The creation of an ambitious, inclusive and actionable research agenda that provides the evidence needed for policy and practice to safeguard mental health and address the mental health impacts of climate change while enabling climate action, deeply grounded in the needs of people with lived experience.
• The development of a connected, supported and engaged community of practice (regionally and globally) with the right tools to enact this agenda, including greater capacity and knowledge sharing.

LACC coordinated the process for the signing of the contract between The UWI and Imperial College, which was completed, after some unanticipated delays, in August 2023.

However, work commenced in April 2023, with the LACC Director as Project Team Leader for the LAC region. Between April and July 2023, the LAC regional community of practice (RCOP), Co-Convenors, Youth Ambassadors — key figures in the project — were all identified, providing a multi-sectoral and multidisciplinary core research source. Similarly, a support team including Project Manager, Technical Advisor, Project Coordinator, Project Assistant and Communications Officer, was put together to work with the Project Team Leader. It is important to note that LACC acted with alacrity on all these initial deliverables, meeting deadlines ahead of time. Among them was the first regional dialogue which LACC duly organised for mid-July 2023, in compliance with the project timeframe, but which the Project Owner, Imperial College, postponed due to slow completion of administrative processes on its end. That Dialogue was re-scheduled and held in August 2023.

Revenue Generation

This project signifies a new role for LACC, expanding its portfolio into project management, with a view to strengthening its contribution to UWI Global and also to the creation of new revenue generating streams for The UWI. This project has committed £84,000 to The UWI as Regional Community Convenor for LAC.

Collaborations through Regional Higher Education Networks

Hemispheric University Consortium (Huc)

LACC serves as the coordinator of The UWI’s involvement in the Hemispheric University Consortium (HUC) which involves representing The UWI on the working group which manages the HUC agenda, the promotion of initiatives, projects and opportunities and monitoring of project implementation. In this regard, the LACC Director participates in the regular meetings of the steering committee “Working Group of Member Universities’ Representatives”; serves as the liaison between the HUC and the Office of the Vice-Chancellor regarding the participation of the Vice-Chancellor in governance meetings (General Assembly and Executive Council); and advises the Vice-Chancellor on issues to be discussed.

During the reporting period, The UWI participated in the Virtual Research Internships programme.

From the Spring of 2022, LACC promoted The UWI’s participation in the Virtual Research Internship initiative of the HUC through the involvement of its academic faculties, researchers, lecturers and specialised centres and institutes in hosting interns and also promoted the opportunity for UWI students to participate as interns at other university members of the HUC. There was a positive response from both UWI faculty and students, and the programmes ran in the second semester of 2022 and into the first trimester of 2023.

UWI Internship

Professor Marvin Reid, Deputy Dean, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Mona Campus and former Director of the Tropical Metabolism Research Unit and Sickle Cell Unit, offered an internship in “The natural history of Transcranial Doppler ultrasound velocity in persons living with Sickle Cell Disease”.

Five students from the Peruana Cayetano Heredia University in Peru and Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in Chile were accepted to these UWI internships.

UWI Student Interns

Six UWI students applied successfully to the University of Miami (USA), Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (Peru) and Universidad San Francisco de Quito (Ecuador), and participated in internships on Resilience models for cultural heritage sites, Sustainability in coastal communities, Biomass for ethanol production and Cyber-hygiene practices in schools and colleges.

Union of Latin American-Caribbean Universities (UDUALC)

The LACC Director represents The UWI at the Union of Universities of Latin America and the Caribbean (UDUALC), including on the Executive Council on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor, who served until November 2022 as Alternate Vice-President for the Caribbean region.

In November 2022, the acronym of this organisation, “UDUAL”, was formally amended by the General Assembly of the Union and is now “UDUALC”. This amendment is based on a proposal put forward by the LACC Director on behalf of The UWI, specifically to add the letter “C” in reference to the Caribbean as stated in the full name of the Union. That proposal had been successfully tabled in February 2020 at the Executive Council meeting hosted by the Vice-Chancellor at The UWI’s Regional Headquarters.

This is an achievement of great significance for The UWI on behalf of the English-speaking Caribbean countries and territories which it serves, as it elevates the visibility of the region as integral and of equal standing within the membership of the Union, raises the Caribbean profile within the Union and speaks to the inclusivity envisioned for the Union at its creation 75 years ago. The LACC Director continued to follow the consultation process and work undertaken by the General Secretariat to prepare the legal documents to effect this change.

Permanent Academic Forum of Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union

The Permanent Academic Forum of Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe (FAP ALC-EU) was established to pursue an initiative to create a Common Area for Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation between these region, as inspired by the First Summit of Heads of State and Government of LAC-EU (1999, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). Members of the academic community of both regions decided to contribute to the creation of this joint effort and held the First LAC-EU Academic Summit (22–23 January, 2013, Santiago, Chile) where the FAP ALC-UE was established.

Since 2017, the LACC Director has represented the Vice-Chancellor at Summits and Council meetings of the FAP ALC-UE. During the reporting period, in November 2022 and July 2023, the LACC Director participated in the IV and V Academic Summits of Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union, held in Bucharest, Romania and Alcala, Spain, respectively.

The Director participated as a panellist at the V Academic Summit on the topic “Development, Present and Future of the Strategic Association of Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union: The Role of Education”. In her remarks the Director proposed ways in which this Strategic Association could be strengthened as well as a strategic approach to the realisation of this Association and the insertion of education into public policy as a fundamental pillar for sustainable development.

In February 2023, the Forum elected the Director as its Third Vice-President with special responsibility for the Caribbean.

Partnerships with Latin American Countries

Teaching assistantship for UWI graduates in Colombia

LACC has continued to support the Colombian’s Government’s programme through which graduates of The UWI are afforded an opportunity to assist in the teaching of English as a second language at Colombian universities. Since 2017, LACC has promoted this opportunity to all UWI campuses. Nine graduates participated in the 2022–2023 iteration of the programme.

UWI students of Spanish also benefit from the programme, as the Colombian Government assigns Colombian teachers to The UWI to assist in the teaching of Spanish as a second language at its campuses at Cave Hill, Mona and St. Augustine. In 2022, LACC conducted the usual consultations and secured the participation of the St. Augustine Campus for the academic year 2022/2023.

ACCESS

Mexico Chair at The UWI – Mona

LACC continued to coordinate the Mexico Chair, a longstanding collaborative programme with the Government of Mexico which was established by Memorandum of Understanding between The University of the West Indies (The UWI) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Mexican States. Under that Memorandum, a scholar would offer classes and conduct research at the Mona Campus of The UWI in one of seven disciplines: Engineering, Humanities and Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology, Social Sciences and Sports. Since its inception in 2016, two professors have held the chair in History and in Climate Change Resilience.

With the expiration of the MoU in 2021, LACC successfully negotiated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico through the Embassy of Mexico in Jamaica, a renewed MoU, expanded to cover other academic disciplines. The MoU was signed by The UWI Vice-Chancellor on 15th May 2023 and on 3rd July 2023 by the Director of the Mexican Agency for Cooperation (AMEXCID), Ms. Laura Elena Carillo Cubillas.