The Tribune

The Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI) has named consultants to oversee the multi-million dollar upgrades being part-financed by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

Dr Robert W Robertson, its president, announced LaToya Johnson as project co-ordinator, while the project manager for institutional strengthening is Gabriella Fraser. The pair will oversee improvements that are expected to transform BTVI over a two-year period. The CBD’s loan, and the Government’s contribution, are about $4.7m each.

Ms Fraser is an economist by profession, who is also a researcher and analyst. Her career has been in administration, policy and regulation across key sectors of the Bahamian economy, including higher education, tourism, financial services and the electronic communications sector.

Noting that BTVI is critical to the country’s socio-economic development, Ms Fraser said its role often seems under-appreciated.

“Over the life of the project and following the project’s conclusion, I hope to see a changing narrative that helps strengthen this appreciation - not only through greater awareness, but also through strategic partnerships that add important value to the BTVI brand,” she added.

Ms Johnson has been a project consultant for more than ten years, providing technical and business consulting services to engineering, business firms and non-profit organisations.

Prior to consulting, she was a network engineering specialist at a major telecommunications company in the US where she provided support to over 100 network operations centres on the east coast and technical expertise for large capital management projects.

Ms Johnson’s role is to monitor the day-to-day operations of the multi-million dollar CDB project, co-ordinate the selection of consultants needed to execute the project and provide regular updates to all stakeholders on its progress.

The project will over the next 24 months seek to rehabilitate and upgrade existing classrooms and laboratories to provide better working spaces, deliver an improved governance and management system, enhance BTVI’s capacity for quality technical and vocational education and training delivery (TVET), and a skills enhancement programme in the Family Islands.

Ms Fraser said her role will examine the institutional framework at BTVI, and its overall capacity to meet its education and training mandate, in a bid to seek out greater effectiveness and efficiencies.

She added that under the improving governance and management systems component, strategic planning - including development of a business plan for BTVI and a corresponding implementation plan - will be a priority.

A campus master plan, and enhancement of student services to strengthen inclusion and responsiveness to student needs is another key area, along with crime prevention and campus security. Enhancing human resources and financial management systems is also on the agenda, along with a tracer study system.

“This will be critical to assessing the transition of BTVI graduates and former students into employment, and how well they would have been prepared for the labour market,” said Ms Fraser. “It should be an important tool for continued strengthening of the institution’s connectedness to industry and ongoing industry developments.

“As a data source for students’ post-BTVI achievement, the information compiled through the tracer study system will be important to national discourse and policy.”

Instructor training and upgrades will be another focus, while the Family Island component is intended to enhance BTVI’s outreach and support targeted skills development needs, driven by industry demand.