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News > Education Minister Tours COB Campus
Education Minister Tours COB Campus In his first official visit to The College of The Bahamas since the Minister of Education late last year, the Hon. Desmond Bannister was recently given a bird's eye view of the unprecedented changes at The College that have marked a defining transition. College President Janyne Hodder and administrators at the institution took Minister Bannister and senior administrators at the Ministry of Education, including Permanent Secretary, Elma Garraway; Director of Education, Lionel Sands; and Director of Higher Education & Lifelong Learning, Dr. Leon Higgs on a tour of the Oakes Field campus on Thursday, January 7th.   The College of The Bahamas is also a member of the International Association of Universities [IAU] and President Hodder sits on the executive board of the organisation. Currently, approximately 32 percent of faculty members are the holders of doctoral degrees and The College aims to increase that number by some five percent per year. The percentage of Bahamian faculty has increased from 70 to 76 percent over the last few years.  "We are also increasingly focused not only on the wishes of high school students - our pool of applications - but are thinking about programmes that directly meet national needs like the Small Island Sustainability programme: two baccalaureate degrees, a BA and a BSc, and two concentrations in each."  The Ministry of Education leaders were also apprised of the status of construction on the new Northern Bahamas Campus in East Grand Bahama, the second phase of which is scheduled to be completed next month, and the branding process for the University of The Bahamas.  "The College is poised at this time to offer such a propgamme," said Dr. Cleare. "We have collaborated with several universities; for instance Suny College and Holland College and they are willing to work with The College of The Bahamas. They are already certified with the International Maritime Organization [IMO] and they are prepared to offer their programmes and allow their faculty to come down here and teach and host our students at their campus." The College has already laid the foundation for increasing the awareness of students in The Bahamas to the professional opportunities available in the maritime sector and last summer hosted the inaugural session of its Maritime Summer Camp in conjunction with Campbell's Shipping. It was a three week summer programme in the Maritime Sciences for 8th and 9th grade students who want to either take maritime courses or enter professions in the maritime sciences.  The minister was pleased with the phenomenal developments at The College, especially as it continues to transition towards university status.
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| The College of The Bahamas :: Oakes Field :: P.O. Box N-4912 :: Nassau, The Bahamas :: Tel (242) 302.4300 :: Email cob@cob.edu.bs |