The annual Conference of the Association of Caribbean Universities and Research Institutes (UNICA) will be held from November 10-13, 2004 in Curacao and will be hosted by the University of the Netherlands Antilles (UNA). The Conference will from part of the UNA’s 25th anniversary celebrations.
UNICA was founded in 1967 by the late Sir Philip Sherlock, one of the UWI’s founding fathers. The aim of the association is to foster contact and collaboration among the centres of higher education in the Caribbean region. It provides linkages and channels of communication between all the language groups of the Caribbean.
The theme of this year’s Conference is Towards the Regionalisation of Higher Education in the Caribbean. The Caribbean region, like the rest of the world, is confronted with the spiraling cost of higher education, both for the institutions and for the students. This is taking place against the background of sluggish economies and the implications for higher education of the General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS). The theme of the Conference is based on the belief that regionalisation of higher education in the Caribbean should ideally be the base of a future Caribbean approach to regional integration. For further information please visit the website: http://www.una.an/nl/activiteiten/unica/reg_hotel.asp