ABSTRACT
On June 26th, 2019, the Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Sir Hilary Beckles, announced that approval had been granted for the establishment of the Five Islands Campus on the English-speaking Caribbean island of Antigua. The Five Islands Campus sought to address this disparity by becoming the new educational hub for the OECS, with the primary goal of creating degree and professional programmes geared to meeting its specific developmental needs. However, the array of tertiary education options existing both inside and outside of the UWI system caused him to question whether Five Islands could attract enough OECS and international students to achieve its objective of doubling enrolment every year for the next five years. Though facing the economic and fiscal constraints typical of small, tourism dependent states, the government of Antigua and Barbuda also pledged an additional fifty tuition scholarships to citizens who wished to pursue their studies at the Five Islands Campus.
