The Tribune

Marcellus Taylor, Deputy Director, Planning and Development with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology gives his perspective on growth in and improvement of higher education.

Bahamians are pursuing education beyond secondary school at record levels.

National Census data reveals that the percentage of Bahamian residents with at least some post-secondary/tertiary education more than doubled in 20 years from 12.1 per cent in 1990 to 28.3 per cent in 2010. Additionally, the World Bank estimates that there are one and a half times more Bahamians with advanced educational attainment living outside The Bahamas than those living in the country. That’s a lot of highly educated people!

This high rate of matriculation is not by chance but results from the increased educational opportunities afforded Bahamians over the last 50 years. In the 1960s and 1970s, government concentrated on expanding secondary education and the relatively few persons able to pursue post-secondary education did so at institutions abroad. However, the rapid success in expanding secondary education necessitated the expansion of the local capacity at post-secondary level. Therefore, the College of The Bahamas (COB) and the Industrial Training Centre (ITC) - renamed the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI) - were established in 1974 and 1980 respectively. Since then, a number of private providers have entered the local higher education market.

Over the years, considerable public funding has been invested in the two public institutions. Initially, most, if not all, of their funding came from the consolidated fund. In fact, tuition fees were waived and stipends provided for the first several cohorts at ITC. Now that both institutions have greater autonomy from the central government, they are expected to generate more of the funding needed to support their operations. Notwithstanding the increased autonomy, significant direct and indirect government funding continues. In Fiscal Year 2016-2017 alone, direct allocations to COB - now University of The Bahamas (UB) - and BTVI equalled $30.1m and $5.25m respectively. Indirect financial contributions (eg, scholarships and bursaries) exceeded $16m.

But, more than funding and changes to governance structures are needed to position our local higher education institutions to have impact. Focus must be placed on enhancing the quality of the education product to the satisfaction of students, employers and the nation. Local higher education institutions must find ways to attract our brighter secondary school graduates as hundreds of them, assisted by publicly funded scholarships, chose to study abroad. They must also address the complaints by employers. In 2012, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) reported that in addition to the skills shortage within the local labour market, the top reasons for staff dismissal were poor conduct (65.4 per cent) and low levels of productivity (28.8 per cent).

Improving education quality at local higher education institutions will involve appropriate intervention by at least four key stakeholders:

• The National Accreditations and Equivalency Council of The Bahamas (NAECOB) must ensure that such institutions meet quality standards which are benchmarked against those in countries at similar levels of development;

• Higher education institutions must recruit and retain the best instructors possible, offer rigorous curricula and support capable and hard-working students to ensure success;

• The private sector should participate in internships, programme evaluation and provide resources to support post-secondary institutions in creating learning experiences which are relevant to individual and societal needs and

• Matriculated students are responsible to themselves and society (especially given the financing provided to underwrite post-secondary/tertiary education) to invest the time and effort required to master their studies.

To conclude, it is commendable that at this stage of our country’s development, priority is given to increasing post-secondary enrolment.

However, to ensure that local public post-secondary/tertiary institutions are capable of delivering quality education to benefit their students and society, widespread support must be given by various stakeholders.

“Gain An Edge” is a weekly collaboration of the Lyford Cay Foundations, Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute and University of The Bahamas aimed at promoting a national dialogue on higher education. Each month, the column features a guest writer who will share their personal views, insights and perspectives. To share your thoughts, email gainanedge@tribunemedia.net.