The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

DISCUSSIONS are taking place between the College of the Bahamas and a Canadian university to link up in increasing assistance to a special needs school operating in Abaco.

Jean Golden, professor of sociology at Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario, told The Tribune about the venture on Saturday at the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas during the world premiere of international documentary Every Child Counts.

The school, which costs about $400,000 a year to run, was founded 15 years ago by Lyn Major to provide an alternative education for children with learning, developmental or physical disabilities regardless of financial, family or social restraints and to maximise each child’s ability to become a productive, successful, and independent citizen.

“We’ve been involved there (ECC) for three years, and the College of the Bahamas doesn’t know that, but I would like to see a way that we can do something joint with ECC so it’s not just a foreign university coming down and doing something,” said Prof Golden.

“And Dr (Keithley) Woolward expressed an interest in getting the COB students involved having seen us doing the service component with our students (Ryerson) with academic placement and getting credits. And if this is the model of ECC that becomes another model for the family islands, then the College of the Bahamas can connect with us.”

“The second point of this discussion is that I’m doing a credit course down here in February (2015) for a full week with students that are going to do projects for Lyn (Major). I was discussing with him that maybe as it develops, we can team teach it.”

“He also asked if we can do some work around graduate programmes because we (Ryerson) are establishing graduate programmes which we’ve been doing for the past five years and we moved into PhD’s now,” the Human Rights activist added.

Prof Golden said faculty and student exchanges were some of the other benefits of a possible partnership.

On the potential partnership, Dr Woolward, COB’s Director of Graduate Programmes, said it represented “a great opportunity for the country” and the college as it transitions to university status.

“Partnerships with institutions such as Ryerson University will allow us to clear any hurdles in order to maximise the opportunity we have to build a world-class university in the Bahamas.”

“Ryerson University has already demonstrated a genuine commitment to the Bahamas and to the education of students with special needs through their work with the ECC school in Abaco. Especially in graduate programmes, Ryerson’s commitment to service learning is important to us,” Dr Woolward added.

“How do we think about transforming the University of the Bahamas curriculum to include a commitment to service in our communities, so that all our students can be mobilised and committed to building a nation ready for the 21st century? This partnership will help us at UOB to build institutional capacity, and to address questions of crime, income inequality, energy and food security among others.”

In May 2012, COB was given a mandate by the returning-PLP government to become the University of the Bahamas by 2015. To that end, Council Chairman Alfred Sears approved and appointed the UTS team two months later to outline a roadmap for the transition of the College to the University.

They were given a 12-month deadline to produce and present a report to council. However, the 539-page report was not delivered to council until the end of October 2013, nearly three months beyond deadline.

Following this, the college council appointed rapporteurs to respond to the findings and make further recommendations, which it did in December.

Among a number of recommendations the rapporteurs proposed an August 2014 deadline for the college to address the issue of service and socialisation.

The reporters to the council advised that the college should create an Office of Outreach and Community Relations (or similar) to solidify and co-ordinate the efforts already underway across the institution and to be a catalyst for the deepening of the ties between The University of The Bahamas and its constituent groups.