Today, the Hon. Jerome Kennedy Fitzgerald M.P., Minister of Education, Science and Technology, commended the "Bill To Establish the University of The Bahamas" to the Bahamas Parliament for its second reading and passage.
He noted that having a University of The Bahamas is extremely important to develop and retain talented and committed young persons to contribute to nation building. ”It really goes to the heart of what it means to be a sovereign nation,” the Minister asserted. He expressed the firm belief that a national university committed to the task of generating and disseminating local knowledge will begin to inspire Bahamians to change their own condition in ways that will allow them to own it and thereby change it. ”With lives grounded in knowledge, all persons have the power to change their circumstances. We need to embrace a culture of learning in order to allow us to rise above, despite the circumstances we may have been dealt in life. Self-knowledge connects us to ourselves in ways that allow us to change ourselves and thus our condition.”
Minister Fitzgerald says the Nation must ensure the success of the University, which holds the promise of becoming the engine of The Bahamas’ intellectual community and the generator of Bahamian knowledge grounded in critical self-reflection in a Bahamian academy - and, thus, one of the keys to building a stronger, more modern, and more united Bahamas.
Master Plan 2013-2025
The College of The Bahamas’ transition towards university status has been an organic process, and woven into that process has been systematic decisions taken to advance the university-transition process. The Minister continued, ”The university is not a static object. It is a dynamic setting that demands intellectual responsiveness and ongoing development. To meet the immediate priorities of the University, financial sustainability plans - directed at diversifying revenue sources through entrepreneurial activity, advisory services, and expanding university endowments and research grant funding - are being implemented. Once established, the University will also launch an aggressive capital projects campaign.”
See here for the Master Plan commissioned by the Council of the College.
