Caribbean University Research Articles

Challenges to Seventh-Day Adventist Tertiary Education in the Caribbean

The article briefly summaries seven challenges that faces the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) tertiary institutions in the Caribbean. There is no exhaustive discussion of the challenges but each is clearly articulated. There is no attempt to address solution but the discussion of each challenge, however, provides opportunity for several inferences that may begin the dialogue for solution. The purpose of SDA education is stated and the understanding of that purpose within a highly multicultural religious context is given some attention. Two English speaking universities, Northern Caribbean University, in Jamaica, and University of the Southern Caribbean, in Trinidad and Tobago, provide the reference from which the seven challenges are drawn. The Seven challenges are: Survival of SDA tertiary schools in the Caribbean, competition with government universities, financial stability, the brain drain, religious balkanization, politics within church organization and the need for curriculum reformation.

Psychometric Properties and Factorial Structure of the State Trait Anxiety Inventory-Trait Version (STAI-T) in Caribbean University Students

The study investigated the psychometric properties of the State Trait Anxiety Inventory—Trait Scale (STAI-T: Spielberger, 1983) in a Caribbean university student sample. Participants were 415 undergraduate students (75% female) who completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Trait Version (STAI-T; Spielberger, 1983), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II; Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996), the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS; Zung, 1965), the Ego Resiliecy-89 (ER-89; Block, 1989), and the Perceived Stress Scale-Ten Item Version (PSS-10; Cohen et al., 1983). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to examine the construct validity of the trait anxiety scale in terms of factor structure, convergent, discriminant, and nomological validities. CFA results revealed that a two-factor solution (trait anxiety absent and trait anxiety present) provided significantly better fit than the one-factor model of trait anxiety. There was clear evidence of convergent validity, discriminant validity, and nomological validity of the scale. Results support the psychometric adequacy of the STAI-T for use with Caribbean university students.

Providing Library Instruction to Distance Learning Students in the 21st Century

ABSTRACT This study examines the variety of instructional practices employed in distance learning librarianship from the end of the 20th Century through the early beginnings of the 21st Century. The authors provide a thorough review of the literature on distance learning library instruction, and the study highlights the instructional services provided at two academic institutions with distinctly different clienteles and missions-one a large American university and the other a large Caribbean university.

The University in transformation: global perspectives on the futures of the university

Introduction The University in Transformation: Globalization, Multiculturalism, Virtualization and Politicization by Sohail Inayatullah and Jennifer Gidley Western Perspectives on the Futures of the University University Traditions and the Challenge of Global Transformation by Philip Spies Higher Education at the Brink by Peter Manicas Will the Future Include Us? Reflections of a Practitioner of Higher Education by Deane Neubauer The Virtual University and the Professoriate by Michael Skolnik The Futures for Higher Education: From Bricks to Bytes to Fare Thee Well by Jim Dator Why Pay for a College Education? by Tom Abeles Of Minds, Markets and Machines: How Universities might transcend the Ideology of Commodification by David Rooney and Greg Hearn At the Edge of Knowledge-Towards Polyphonic Multiversities by Paul Wildman Non-Western Perspectives on the Futures of the University Recovery of Indigenous Knowledge and Dissenting Futures of the University by Ashis Nandy Pakistani Universities: Past, Present, and Future by Tariq Rahman Civilizing the State: the University in the Middle East by Shahrzad Mojab Scholar Activism for a New World: The Future of the Caribbean University by Anne Hickling-Hudson Internationalizing the Curriculum-for Profit or the Planet? by Patricia Kelly Alternative Universities The Crisis of the University: Feminist Alternatives for the 21st Century and Beyond by Ivana Milojevic Homo Tantricus: Tantra as an Episteme for Future Generations by Marcus Bussey Universities Evolving: Advanced Learning Networks and Experience Camps by Patricia Nicholson Consciousness-Based Education: A Future of Higher Education in the New Millennium by James Grant Transformations of the University Corporate Networks or Bliss for All: The Politics of the Futures of the University by Sohail Inayatullah Unveiling the Human Face of University Futures by Jennifer Gidley Selected Bibliography

Report on the XXII Annual Conference of ACURIL

The Association of Caribbean University, Research and Institutional Libraries (ACURIL) held its XXII Annual Conference in Port of Spain, Trinidad from 17 to 23 May 1992. The conference honoured the founder of ACURIL, Dr Alma Jordan, the former librarian of the University of the West Indies in St Augustine, Trinidad.

Information Technology in the Caribbean

The Caribbean possesses many advantages in terms of its potential receptivity to information technology. All the countries in the Caribbean could benefit from greater resource-sharing in the information field. Agencies such as Unesco are sponsoring the development of regional networks, such as CARSTIN, the network for the exchange of information and experience in science and technology for development, and the training of librarians in the skills appropriate to the new automated information services. A systematic review is needed of opportunities and methods for librarians in the Caribbean region for continuing education in the applications of information technology. An information technology special interest group could be formed within ACURIL, the Association of Caribbean University, Research and Institutional Libraries, and could prepare proposals on the formation of a Caribbean

Research Library Cooperation in the Caribbean: Papers of the First and Second Conferences of the Association of Caribbean University and Research Libraries. Alma Jordan

<i>Research Library Cooperation in the Caribbean: Papers of the First and Second Conferences of the Association of Caribbean University and Research Libraries</i>. Alma Jordan