Expansion+of+Higher+Education+Opportunities+in+the+U.S.+Virgin+Islands

The following is a summary of the article, "The Expansion of Higher Educational Opportunities in the United States Virgin Islands," by Isaac Dookhan, which can be found via The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 50, No. 1. (Winter, 1981), pp. 15-25.

The search for better education opportunities in the U.S. Virgin Islands climaxed in July 1963, when the College of the Virgin Islands was established.

It was a slow process for various reasons: (1) small population of only 26k people when the U.S. acquired the islands from Denmark in 1917; (2) low standard of elementary education and almost no secondary education available; (3) history of Danish control before the Americans came included slavery, and the education system at the time discouraged Black people to pursue it.

The first 12th grade senior high school students graduated in 1931, but once the U.S. gained control of the Virgin Islands, individuals more often than not emigrated to the U.S. to escape from poverty or to pursue education in the states, which discouraged the establishment of an institution of higher education on the Islands. The first two decades of U.S. control focused more on political and civil rights than education.

In 1933, the first civilian governor, Dr. Paul M. Pearson, instituted a scholarship for citizens to go to Hampton Institute or Howard University for their undergraduate program, with the expectation that recipients would return to the Islands to work upon graduation.

From the late 1940s-early ‘60s, the government received funds from the U.S. Federal Government and the Ford Foundation to further educate citizens, but studies showed that only a small fraction of high school graduates went on to college, and most of those students could only afford to go because of the scholarships offered. To resolve this, Governor Ralph M. Paiewonsky fought to create a local college, built for affordability and to retain smart individuals, which was approved to be established and known as the College of the Virgin Islands on 3/16/1962.

The main campus of the college is located on St. Thomas, but it quickly expanded to St. Croix and St. John. It consisted of two basic types of programs: a university parallel program, intended to facilitate the transfer of graduates into bachelor of arts programs in the U.S., and the occupational program, which was intended to prepare students for immediate employment after graduation. Starting in 1968, the College enabled students to receive bachelor’s degrees, and 4 years later, a master’s degree program was instituted. In addition, the college places a huge emphasis on research at the Caribbean Research Institute located on the St. Thomas campus, which focuses on agricultural experiments and reserving nature to benefit the islands.

A struggle that the college still faces today, though, is recruitment and retention of faculty due to the competitive wages in the U.S. and the comparative high cost of living on the islands.