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Article published In:
Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education
Vol. 1:2 (2016) ► pp.277–304

Overseas sojourning as a socioeconomic and cultural development strategy

A context study of the University of the West Indies

| The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados
This article analyses the context around overseas sojourning for linguistic and intercultural development at the University of the West Indies, a public university serving the Anglophone Caribbean region. It assesses the affordances and constraints around this activity deriving from a range of geopolitical, sociocultural and institutional forces that bear on how residence abroad for this particular purpose is configured in this particular context. It further identifies a number of factors that currently align in favour of increased valorisation of such experiences as facilitators of socioeconomic and cultural development, such as strategic policy at the regional governance level, diversification of trade partnerships and service provision, or the promotion of experiential learning at the institutional level. The conclusion recommends the establishment of research collaborations with international partners to promote a unique small-states and Caribbean contribution to understandings of the potential socioeconomic and cultural impact of residence abroad for intercultural learning.
Keywords: intercultural development, University of the West Indies, postcolonial states, Caribbean, non-traditional study abroad contexts, developing states
Published online: 27 October 2016
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https://doi.org/10.1075/sar.1.2.06cra
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