About Us
Mission
To promote mutual understanding and lasting friendships among COBEC member institutions through collaborative academic experiences that engage students, faculty, staff, and administrators. We advance higher education by fostering joint initiatives in research, teaching, curriculum, knowledge sharing, and library development, while supporting dynamic exchanges of people and ideas. Through systematic planning and the mobilization of human and financial resources, we address the evolving needs of students and institutions, expand access to financial aid for greater student mobility and achievement, and modernize higher education through shared best practices. We are committed to providing enriching academic, study abroad, and professional development opportunities that empower our diverse academic communities to thrive.
COBEC Strategic Goals
- Short-term professional development programs
- Microcredential and advanced degree training
- Shared projects for institutional resources
- Curriculum development initiatives
- Student support services
- Clearinghouse/resource sharing
- Quality assurance initiatives
- Membership expansion
- Joint research initiatives
- Institutional cooperation and communication
- Accreditation support
- Articulation agreements
- Program impact assessment
A Brief History of COBEC
The Consortium for Belize Educational Cooperation (COBEC) might well be a unique organization among higher education collaboratives. It includes all the significant tertiary-level institutions in Belize and most U.S. higher education institutions engaged in projects or activities in Belize. It is a minimally structured organization that has survived and thrived, without external funding, through changes in political and educational leadership in Belize and through budgetary retrenchment and crises in both Belize and the U.S. Despite its low profile and general goals, it has had a significant and continuing impact on the structure and quality of higher education in Belize and on the internationalization of U.S. member institutions.