Across the international higher education spectrum access represents a significant issue. The literature is replete with analyses of access in various higher education systems. Low and inequitable patterns of participation in higher education are particularly prominent in developing countries. This dissertation is a case study of the higher education system of the state of Antigua and Barbuda, former British territories of the Caribbean region. Focusing on the issue of access and equity of access this study addresses the trends related to participation in higher education in this twin-island state of the Caribbean region, and analyzes factors that affect participation in this country. The study explores the role of government and institutional bodies in enhancing the rate and quality of participation in higher education in these territories, and seeks to determine factors affecting the state of preparedness of this country to participate and survive in the modern global social and economic order.

The study finds that increased and more equitable rates of participation in higher education would be achieved by strengthening and reorganizing aspects of the primary and secondary education levels. Creating an integrated and carefully articulated higher education system, which caters to a wide cross section of the inhabitants of the twin-island state, and which contains mechanisms for admissions for second chance candidates, would also serve to promote access to and equity in the higher education system of this country.