Overcoming Barriers to Access and Success in Tertiary Education in the Commonwealth Caribbean.

This paper attempts to identify some of barriers to access and success in Commonwealth Caribbean tertiary education. Firstly, it defines the terms like tertiary education, access and success. The tertiary education system is a loosely coupled network of diverse institutions which vary in type, size and mission. The majority are publicly funded and multi-disciplinary in scope and include one large regional university, the University of the West Indies. Caribbean students enrol in tertiary institutions locally, regionally and internationally. Several barriers to access and success in tertiary education are discussed which include: space (geographical and accommodation), cost (development, delivery and travel), population size and scale economies, technology, attitude of producers and consumers, the structure of opportunity, administrative leadership, gender.