The College of The Bahamas’ (COB) transition to university status is progressing well, according to the college’s acting president, Dr. Earla Carey-Baines.
“Last week Friday and Saturday the college council, senior administrators, our union representatives and former members of the University Transition Secretariat met in strategic planning sessions that will lead to a roadmap being solidified for our natural progression to university.”
“In October 2013, the secretariat submitted its report to the council with recommendations on that roadmap. The council subsequently appointed a group of rapporteurs to respond to the UTS report with the result that further recommendations were submitted in December 2013. In the planning sessions held this past weekend, we deliberated the various recommendations and considered additional proposals generated by sub-committees charged with specific mandates germane to the transition and the sustainability of the University of The Bahamas.”
Dr. Carey-Baines said all the work was designed to confirm the final roadmap for the college.
“I am happy to report that much has been accomplished and that the roadmap, the final stages in our transition, will be shared shortly,” she told reporters at a news conference yesterday.
“We invite members of the public to read both the UTS and Rapporteurs’ reports which are accessible online at our website. The public can log onto www.cob.edu.bs and then access the tab which indicates University Transition Secretariat. We shall advise the public on the release of the roadmap that will bring the university into effect by 2015.”
She added, however, that a university is more than the “bricks and mortar of which it is made.”
“The infrastructure that undergirds its operation is vital,” Dr. Carey-Baines said.
“Tangible steps have been made to create the kind of physical plant that will adequately support an anticipated increase in the demands for classroom and student service facilities as well as academic programme expansions. Simultaneously, preparations are ongoing to increase our infrastructure both at the Oakes Field campus in New Providence and the northern Bahamas campus in Grand Bahama as well as our proposed campus in Andros.”
The acting president said before the end of the month construction will begin on the multi-million dollar Franklyn R. Wilson Graduate Business Centre and once completed, will serve as the hub for graduate programmes.
She also spoke about the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute in Andros which is also under construction.
“We are building new residence halls at our campuses in New Providence and Grand Bahama, a new Arts building and a new Science complex, the Small Island Sustainability complex and a new Student Services Centres which have all been identified as capital development priorities with a view to providing the physical infrastructure of the university,” Dr. Carey-Baines said.
