In 1962, Eric Williams, head of the government of Trinidad and Tobago and leader of the independence movement against the British, called on Switzerland to train his diplomats. The collaboration of a neutral state enabled him to protect himself from the influence of communism in the Caribbean and to get out of the imposing American tutelage. A collaboration was established between the two countries concerning academic exchanges and an institute of international relations was created. This educational project had a particularly strong political dimension and this paper also questions it from the perspective of practice in action. Once the political agreement was reached, the Swiss and Trinidadian academic actors entered the scene and the reality on the ground shows disagreements and tensions that contrasted greatly with the political agreement.