Recent decades have brought seismic changes to global higher education. Educational leaders labour to sharpen administration, funding, teaching and learning practices in response to an increasingly globalized and technological world. The possibilities that this changing landscape may provide are perhaps most exciting for those currently economically disadvantaged and historically underserved by higher education. The advent of a knowledge economy and the need to train hundreds and thousands of new students paired with technological developments may help correct inequalities in access and excellence in education. This study asks the question: What, however, is the lived reality on the ground? Are university faculty and administrators in historically underserved communities finding new and exciting paths forward? Or, are these educational leaders feeling entrenched and forced to well-worn paths of disempowerment? This study leverages cross-disciplinary conversations with innovation research to critically analyze these, and other, questions. Deploying a multi-site case study in the Caribbean nation of Haiti, this study gathers evidence from documents and semi-structured interviews with nine leaders in higher education across three institutions. The findings of this study indicate that innovation can take and is taking place in higher education systems in the developing world. Though structural inequalities remain, educational leaders in Haiti are working to realize perceived opportunities to define the “good” of education both privately and publicly; leverage international support; encourage students (and graduates) to stay in the country; increase student support services, and secure validity while relying on local expertise. These findings help detail a picture of global higher education and a historically marginalized community.
Open Source Archives
We strive to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration and the implementation of progressive and participatory research methods, with the goal of generating tangible, durable changes in the way research about Haiti is conceptualized, implemented and applied.
ABOUT US
Research Hub & Open Source Archives
EKO HAITI Research Hub is a research and knowledge mobilization platform focused on creative, collaborative and interdisciplinary research and associated research-based learning. We aim to become the intellectual “home” for research about Haiti by creating and providing open access to the largest crowdsourced research archive dedicated to Haiti, by fostering cross-disciplinary research and innovation, and by providing support for progressive research in the form of contextual expertise and training.
“The trees fall from time to time, but the voice of the forest never loses its power. Life begins.”
Jacques Alexis, Les Arbres Musiciens (Paris, 1957)
ORAL HISTORIES
Oral histories are a powerful tool in developing historical understanding
Oral history offers an alternative to conventional history, filling gaps in traditional research with personal accounts of historically significant events or simply life in a specific place and time. Oral histories do more than provide charming details to dry historical accounts. In fact, oral histories help others recapture lived experiences that are not written down in traditional sources.
> Transcripts archive
" Bwa pi wo di li wè lwen, men grenn pwomennen di li wè pi lwen pase l "
The tallest tree says that it sees far, but the seed that travels says that it sees even further.
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As an independent institute, we rely on crowdsourcing and donations to continue expanding the depth and scope of our archives. Your contribution enable us to provide open access to a vast collection of ethnographic and research material which in turn aims at fostering further research and contribute to a better understanding of the country.
