The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

THE College of The Bahamas (COB) yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Sciences Institute (BAMSI), which officials from both establishments hailed as a positive step towards bringing “expertise to the field of Bahamian agriculture”.

At a signing ceremony at the Harry C Moore Library yesterday afternoon, COB President Dr Rodney Smith heralded what he said is a partnership between the two institutions to advance “the knowledge and practice of marine sciences in the country”.

“We are confident that this collaboration will go a long way in helping to address food security in the Bahamas and it will help us to develop our agricultural and marine science economies, through the students, the country’s future agricultural and marine specialists who will graduate from BAMSI,” Dr Smith said.

“We are not in competition with each other. We will have a collaborative partnership for the full benefit of the entire country.”

According to Dr Smith, effective this year, students graduating from BAMSI will have earned a certificate from the institute or a degree awarded by COB. After COB’s transition to university status, Dr Smith said BAMSI graduates will be awarded a degree from the University of the Bahamas in collaboration with BAMSI.

According to BAMSI Director Dr Godfrey Eneas, Dr Smith and his team have already reviewed BAMSI’s syllabus and its curriculum, and have not only determined that BAMSI is “on the right track”, but are also prepared to authenticate BAMSI’s degree programme, certificates and diplomas as well as “legitimate our standing as a tertiary academic institution”.

“With COB being the premier tertiary institution in our country, having a partnership with us at BAMSI is very important because it provides certain standards and also certain advantages,” Dr Eneas said. “We’ll be able to share students, we’ll be able to share faculty, we’ll be able to participate in joint research projects, and we’ll be able to address some issues on the environment that face The Bahamas jointly.”