The Tribune

COLLEGE Council Chairman Alfred Sears has challenged The College of The Bahamas community to envision the opportunities that exist for the institution to leverage the skills of its constituents in order to achieve financial sustainability for the proposed University of The Bahamas.

In a message which set the tone for a new academic year – the final year before the college transitions to university status – Mr Sears said the institution’s most critical resource is the talent of its faculty.

“We have the potential to generate millions of dollars for The College of The Bahamas through research,” Mr Sears said.

In this vein, senior administration is developing strategies to augment the institution’s research and grant writing capacity. The college has already achieved some measure of success in grant-writing. In addition to securing other grants, recently RBC Royal Bank awarded the college a $75,000 grant to conduct research on sustainable water use, management and conservation practices.

“We have asked the president and the senior team to build the resources for research facilitation so that all of the faculty members who apply for research grants will have the support of someone dedicated to research in grant writing, helping to identify new sources of revenue and utilising our memoranda of understanding with other universities so that we could collaborate with faculty who share the same research interests in other institutions,” Mr Sears said.

His comments came at the opening ceremony for the 2014 Faculty Seminar held on August 18 at COB’s Performing Arts Centre. The professional development event is held annually for faculty at the beginning of the fall semester.

He also elaborated on other opportunities for the institution to reduce its reliance on the public purse. This fiscal year, the central government reduced its budget for COB by approximately $3 million. Mr Sears invited faculty to envision themselves offering advisory services in both the public and private sectors, as other universities do.

“The president has been speaking with UWI Consult, which is the advisory arm of the University of the West Indies, and we are crafting a collaboration with UWI Consult so that the faculty of The College of The Bahamas could be engaged in giving advisory services to persons in the private sector, to the Government of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, and also to governments outside of our commonwealth as well as the private sector in other countries,” Mr Sears said.

Nurturing a culture that supports student success is also vital. In addition to the institutional strengthening in the areas of finance, human resources and marketing that a Caribbean Development Bank loan will facilitate, The College is building strategic support through philanthropy and partnerships to enrich the academy. It is looking to substantially increase the University Endowment and stimulate more alumni giving as well.

According to Mr Sears, this calls for a cultural shift.

This year, ten new faculty members have joined the college, eight of whom possess terminal degrees, while 1,600 new students have been accepted for fall 2014.

At the Oakes Field campus there are physical markers of progress. Construction is continuing on the Franklyn R Wilson Graduate Centre which is scheduled to be completed by December 2014. This fall, construction will commence on the long-anticipated G T R Campbell Small Island Sustainability Complex. The LEED-certified facility will be built at the Oakes Field Campus, rather than on Gladstone Road as was initially intended. A comprehensive master-plan is guiding capital development.

A new entrance on Tucker Road between Water Street and Thompson Boulevard will also be constructed at the Oakes Field campus.

In the future, new residence halls will also be constructed at both the Oakes Field and Northern Bahamas campuses and modern arts and science complexes will be constructed as the nerve centres for the respective academic programmes.

The new paradigm also extends to the leadership of the institution. Former COB president and the current Vice President of Hampton University Dr Rodney Smith has been approved as the new president. Pending the outcome of successful negotiations, he is expected to begin his three-year presidential appointment this fall.