It has been argued that higher education has irreversibly changed over the past 15 to 20 years. University education has moved from an elite system to a mass system. The frontiers of higher education have expanded more rapidly that they have ever done before by extensively moving across geographical boundaries and accommodating different forms of partnership and collaboration. Traditionally, universities have sought to maintain their autonomy, establish their own standards and shape their own identities within their own spaces. Those that belong to the elite sphere, have taken great pains to ensure that the uniqueness of their special license will continue to attract students from around the world. However, some of this thinking has been modified over time as various global forces have impacted on institutions of higher education. The marketisation of education has been accelerated by economic, social, political, technological and even educational considerations. Whereas notions of interdependence were neither possible nor desirable for universities who fought to maintain their individuality, prevailing global conditions have increasingly pressured many institutions into mergers and collaborations with other organisations in an effort to maintain economic viability and advance their appeal. In an attempt at re-creation, Universities and their Departments have moved towards more hybrid models of operation and the walls between departments, programmes and people have become more porous and perhaps even seamless. As a result, they have engaged in collaborative ventures, built partnerships and developed strategic alliances. These special relationships, are usually based on some formal agreement and can be perceived as "active working partnership(s) supported by some kind of institutional commitment" (Neil, 1981:25). They may be between two or more higher education institutions and/or involve businesses, non-profit organisations or non-governmental organisations. Undoubtedly, these strategic partnerships and alliances have developed in an effort to maximize the strengths of individual partners while also creating new opportunities. This paper will look at a research collaboration between the University of Sheffield's School of Education in the UK and the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College, located in one of the UK's former colonies in the Caribbean, St. Lucia. As a result of the experiences of that project, the paper looks at the opportunities and challenges that arose as a result of that collaborative research. It will also identify lessons to be learned from this relationship and the transferability of these lessons to institutions within countries that were once either former colonisers or former colonies. I will also share some insights of the collaboration as they were expressed by the other partners in the research process. It is my belief that some of the lessons that have been learnt from this experience could be transferred to other situations of a similar nature.