In 2019, following a ceremony held in Jamaica and Glasgow, the University of Glasgow entered into a historic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of the West Indies (UWI). This partnership - which is 20 years in the making - has fostered several initiatives, including academic short-term mobility visits, scholarships for UWI students, and collaborations across multiple areas. It also led to the creation of the Glasgow-Caribbean Centre for Development Research, based in Glasgow and the Caribbean.

A new project is now introducing innovative learning in Education and Life Sciences, as part of the broader programme of activities planned for the next five years. 'Exploring internationalisation, research, and collaboration opportunities between UofG and The UWI’ aims to strengthen international relationships through joint research and teaching initiatives.

At the University of Glasgow, it is led by the School of Education (SofE) and the School of Infection and Immunity (SII). The Glasgow-Caribbean Centre for Development Research has been instrumental in funding and supporting the activities of this partnership, enabling transformative initiatives that are strengthening ties between the University of Glasgow (UofG) and the University of the West Indies (UWI).

Since the launch of the project in March 2024, a wide variety of activities - from exchange visits to online seminars - has led to inspiring conversations and plans for action, with much more planned.

The project has a major emphasis on COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning), which can support students and staff in developing intercultural and global citizen competences.

This is combined with a strong focus on Virtual Reality (VR) technologies that are known to foster emotional impact on positive learning experiences. Researchers in both universities are exploring the potential of this technology, not only in learning and teaching but also in educational research.

Other aims include identifying research collaborations to explore the use of VR in education, emphasising the enhancement of student-teachers' self-confidence, and integrating pedagogical approaches, such as Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK).

The partnership also explores the possibility of facilitating and supporting postgraduate professional development through training and joint degrees.

Dr Gabriella Rodolico (SofE), Dr Lavinia Hirsu (SofE), Dr Nicola Veitch (SII)) and Dr Claire Donald (SII) visited the UWI in March 2024, splitting their time between the Cave Hill Campus in Barbados and the Mona Campus in Jamaica. The trip focussed on meeting several key potential collaborators in the fields of Education and Sciences, aligned to the expertise of the visiting group.

The following workshops took place at both campuses to stimulate discussion and disseminate materials:

Virtual Reality in Education presented work around pedagogy of VR in Education and demonstrating VR tools with live interactive sessions, using bespoke VR apps designed by the members of the team. The sessions were also online and broadcast across The UWI campuses in different Caribbean countries.

Enhancing internationalisation through COIL was presented by Dr Gabriella Rodolico. This session dived into the transformative potential of COIL in the context of heightened internationalization in Higher Education.

PGRs seminar on crafting a Literature Review explored some of these strategies, as well as sharing writing practices and addressing challenges, to make writing literature reviews a manageable, exciting and engaging process. 

Knowledge Exchange presented key research projects and areas from the UofG’s School of Education. This session was meant to facilitate the identification of common research areas of interest and to invited colleagues from the UWI’s School of Education (Mona campus) to share their own research plans and strategic directions. 

In addition, discussions about the potential for collaborations led the team to successfully apply for the Internal Partnership Development Funding (IPDF) 2024 and invite two UWI academics - Dr Zoyah Kinkead-Clark (School of Education, Mona Campus in Jamaica) and Dr Jeanese Badenock (Faculty of Science & Technology, Cave Hill Campus in Barbados) - to visit University of Glasgow in June 2024.

Dr Gabriella Rodolico said: “We are extremely proud of this collaboration, and how it goes beyond traditional academic exchanges, emphasising mutual enrichment and capacity-building opportunities. By engaging in impactful educational practices and research, the work we are doing is well placed to directly contribute to societal impact at local and global levels.

“In a relatively short space of time we have achieved a huge amount, including fostering mutual enrichment between institutions, identifying common areas of interest, opening up conversations around COIL opportunities and VR by-proxy integrations in already existing courses, summer school, discounts and student mobility, as well as ongoing conversations on jointly developing a Masters degree programme in Childhood Practice and a joint research agenda in the West Indies.

“Our visit was met with enthusiasm and engagement from all participants, with one saying “This is fantastic! This is the type of technology that is needed in classroom around the world.” We were also interviewed by a local radio station in Jamaica who were intrigued by the partnership. Taking the time to visit the UWI campuses was clearly valuable and has taken the work we are doing to the next level.”

The partnership team are now exploring new directions and the potential for future collaborations.

During their visit, Dr Zoyah Kinkead-Clark and Dr Jeanese Badenock were offered a full day immersive VR training workshop created by the School of Education on “Virtual Reality at the School of Education: from research opportunities to innovative applications”. They used the VR Edify lesson creator from the UoG Project Mobius, and the VR facilities available at the UofG ARC-XR and VR labs in Partick Burgh Hall with the support of Dr Imants Latkovskis (ICT Manager - XR Lab Manager).

Dr Kinkead-Clark met Dr Paul Lynch (Reader, School of Education) to discuss early years education (and special educational needs) in Scotland and in the West Indies. Dr Kinkead-Clark also had the opportunity to visit two early years centres as part of these discussions. These visits were particularly helpful in forging new discussions on how UofG and The UWI could develop new joint initiatives in early years for children aged 3-7 years.

The UWI campuses received two sets of hardware and software to access Edify lessons, including those demonstrated during the team’s visit, such as the Disease Diagnostic Apps, which are freely available. This opens opportunities for collaboration in creating custom Anatomy apps, and Medical Visualisation Masters projects could be co-supervised by The UWI and UofG staff to develop bespoke VR content.

Both campuses have also connected with the UofG’s School of Engineering (Professor Qammer Abassi and Dr Hasan Abas) through the Eon-XR project. This collaboration involved sharing existing Eon-XR resources developed by the School of Engineering and providing 20 Eon-XR licenses to UWI partners at no cost, allowing them to explore and trial this resource.

Ideas being offered and explored include setting up a joint Master’s Childhood Practice programme; research into early childhood development and education between UofG and The UWI; research seminars for doctoral students; and a 50% discount on Masters courses at the SofE in response to demand by UWI students. A jointly supervised PhD scholarship between the UofG’s College of Social Sciences and The UWI was recently announced, aimed at individuals from the Commonwealth Caribbean who are students, staff and alumni of The UWI.

This work all contributes to a wider effort to foster this dynamic partnership, with long reaching benefits for students and educators across the world.

 

First published: 21 January 2025

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