Town And Gown Start University Celebrations

THE College of the Bahamas will mark its transition to university this week with numerous activities leading up to its charter day on Thursday.

And while many are celebrating the impending change, Mark Humes, a lecturer at COB and former president of the Union of Tertiary Educators of the Bahamas (UTEB), said while he thinks the transition is a “good thing” he feels that the current move is a “political ploy.”

“I don’t know if there’s any country anywhere that wouldn’t want to have a prestigious university as the centre of its educational system,” Mr Humes, current Free National Movement candidate for Fort Charlotte, said. “So, COB transitioning to a university is a good thing. Whether or not COB is adequately prepared to transition to university is another thing.

“The unfortunate thing for me, in all of this, is that the transition at this time, I feel, is only a political ploy. I think if you look over the past couple of months you would recognise from the reports about the financial state of the college that it’s not prepared for the transition. The government has made no indication, if they remain in power, that they will continue to invest in the university at a level that it needs to invest in it in order for the institution to be sustained.”

Mr Humes said the quality of education students receive at COB is world-class.

“I think when you look at the quality of the faculty members that teach at the college, you can’t say that we don’t have what it takes to compete or be sustainable as a university.

“The students that have left and gone abroad can attest to the fact that the quality of the instruction is superior and will prepare them for any institution outside of this country. So there’s no doubt about that. I think what hinders us also, as an institution, is the infrastructure that we’re lacking and the resources we’d need to function at the next level,” Mr Humes said. Read more

Source: Tribune 242