This programme aims to promote mutually beneficial collaborative initiatives between our local University of the West Indies and Universities in the UK, in order to strengthen the longstanding relationship between the two countries.
In partnership with DFID, we provide funding to enable individuals and institutions to work together to develop collaborative programmes and promote innovation in education and science. There are three such Links currently running in Trinidad:
Link partner: Centre for Creative & Festival Arts, The University of the West Indies
Contact: Dr Dani Lyndersay, Mr Rawle Gibbons
UK Partner:School of Music & Drama, Department of Drama, The University of Manchester
Contact: Mr A R Jackson, Prof Gerald Hammond
This link aims to:
1.Train staff in order to develop a network of new Theatre-in-Education (TIE) community groups in socially disadvantaged areas throughout Trinidad & Tobago and in the Eastern Caribbean (ie Barbados, Guyana, Grenada, St Lucia) that would use TIE techniques to explore social and health problems relevant to their communities in order to make changes in the lives of marginalised people particularly rural and unemployed women and youth.
2.Develop and structure a Certificate Course in Applied Theatre/Theatre for Development for in-service teachers, community development officers and theatre practitioners. Modules within the Course will enable (And require) students to form TIE groups and pass on the essential skills of TIE and Applied Theatre to new communities who will in turn work with disadvantaged communities within Trinidad & Tobago and the Eastern Caribbean.
3.Explore the options and the course materials for a joint distance education Masters Degree in Applied Theatre and Cultural Studies incorporating practitioners within the Region.
Link partner(s): The Centre for Caribbean Land and Marine Environmental Appraisal Research (CLEAR), The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago
Contact: Prof Sarwan Baban
UK Link:The School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich
Contact: Dr Norman K Tovey
The main purpose of this Link is to assist with the development process in Trinidad an in the Caribbean Region through:
1.capacity building by developing courses to educate and train local scientists
2.improving the quality of human life in particular the poorer sections of society, who are subjected to landslide risks
This purpose will be realised through developing courses for educating and training local scientists within the UWI, which serves the whole Caribbean region. In addition, a series of maps showing landslide hazards in Trinidad will be produced to provide an understanding for the spatial variability of landslide risk in Trinidad. The outcomes will be made available to planner/decision makers with the view to reducing risks to homes by confining development and human settlements to ‘safe’ areas. This project will contribute to reducing risks to property, life, agricultural land, infrastructure, water quality and the environment.
Link Partner:University of the West Indies, St Augustine and Cave Hill campuses
Contact (St Augustine): Dr Vena Jules
Contact (Cavehill): Dr Anthony Layne
UK institution:University of Brighton
Contact: Prof Peter Kutnick
This proposed link is derived from recognition that 1) underperformance in education limits (life and economic) opportunities and that 2) in order to better understand the effects of systems that promote education we must develop a number of individuals with the skills to undertake educational evaluations. The team that proposed this Link has been internationally recognised for their previous work in identifying gender-based aspects of educational underachievement in the Caribbean and already have established excellent working relationships between key members of the University of the West Indies (Trinidad and Cave Hill campuses) and the University of Brighton.
The first purpose of the proposed Link will advance methods to approach and resolve gender-based underachievement in schools by working with training teachers to develop their skills of social inclusion. The second purpose of the proposed Link will advance understanding and training of personnel to conduct evaluation studies (of the effect of education initiatives) within the Caribbean.
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