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The College of The Bahamas :: Oakes Field :: P.O. Box N-4912 :: Nassau, The Bahamas
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College of The Bahamas Strategic Plan Launched
College of The Bahamas President, Janyne Hodder, and Vice-President Outreach, Dr Pandora Johnson, launched The College's Strategic Plan at a press conference held in the Executive Boardroom of the Michael Eldon Complex. As President Hodder commented, the Strategic Plan "represents a concise road map for the evolution of The College into the University of The Bahamas," and embodies the values that will underpin the university.
The plan is a product of more than two years of discussions and work by numerous task forces involving members of the College community and general public. The current document is the distillation of over 400 pages of Reports. President Hodder noted that the document was note fixed in stone but provides a guideline to shape the final vision. "Every day as you move towards your goal, the vision becomes clearer," she stated and added, "Some key principles are being established that will be sharpened by further consultation."
Describing the vision for the University of The Bahamas, Ms Hodder said, "We will be a national Bahamian university that is respected locally, regionally and internationally for its excellent teaching, research and service and for its ability to support sustainable development and prosperity."
President Hodder then addressed the new university's mission statement and emphasized that the University of The Bahamas must be in the business of excellence. "We are building for excellence,' she stressed, "because there is no point in garnering public support for mediocrity. We want to be the university of first choice for Bahamians, so whatever we do has to be excellent."
The President covered the key strategies and the key assumptions listed in the plan. Among the strategies are the desire to engage the country by caring for and respecting the students, responding to national needs and recognizing competitive advantages, empowering people and creating effective teams and focusing on goals, results and the long term. The assumptions include beliefs that there will be national support, public funding and philanthropy will grow and there will be a National Endowment for the University.
President Hodder went on to describe the profound transformation that The College has been going through during the past ten years, a transformation that a large percentage of the population is unaware of. This includes the huge increase in the numbers of bachelor degrees awarded compared to the associate degrees gained and the concomitant increase in number of Bahamian faculty on the staff.
Dr Johnson, who Mrs Hodder described as "an extraordinary champion of the plan; its godmother," then spoke concerning the consultative process that will follow the distribution of the Strategic Plan. She explained that it will be distributed in two of the country's daily newspapers as a supplement, it will be posted on the College's website and it will be available from the Office of Outreach.
Adding that town meetings will be held in New Providence and in Family Islands where The College has a presence, Dr Johnson explained, "We want the public to know that this is our university - the people of The Bahamas - and the people should have a say in what will be the University of The Bahamas. The process has already engaged broad discussion and consultation and we want to ensure that the document truly reflects what the public has been saying to us."
She ended by saying that the consultation process should be completed by November 15th and the final version of the Strategic Plan should be in place by Spring of 2008.
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The College of The Bahamas
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