bahamianpride
05-24-07, - 05:46 PM
A university or a bad joke?
http://www.thenassauguardian.com/editorial/333756787293842.php
Every single one of my mother's six children attended the College of The Bahamas. I went there because when I was 16 I graduated high school – big up to the GHS class of '85! – and I had absolutely no intention of leaving the country and living on my own at that age. Furthermore, I hadn't applied anywhere. I hadn't even thought of applying. I never even got to sit the SAT. I went straight to COB.
Once there I changed my major quite a few times and met one or two weird professors. (Now I'm one of those weird professors!) But all in all it was a positive, life-changing experience. Not because of the great conditions; don't get me wrong folks. The library was small and we went there mostly to talk. The campus was overrun with rats – I remember I finally got to kill one before I graduated – and the cafeteria food was . . . well, cafeteria food. And let's not forget registration. Waiting to register made you feel like a refugee fleeing civil war, stuck on a mile-long line in the middle of a desert on the border of an inhospitable country. But the professors were mostly very good at what they did and they seemed to enjoy teaching. I'm talking about people like Pearl Monaghan, Roger Kelty, Angela Darville, Nicolette Bethel, Patricia Glinton-Meicholas, Leslie Symonette, Joseph Walker, Joyce Georges, and Claire Belgrave. I finally settled on English and Teacher Education and finished up in the summer of '88. I had to leave the country in order to get my BA. COB simply didn't go that far. I didn't even graduate with a 3.0 average. Grades didn't interest me as much as the ideas themselves. And I have to admit, I had no pressure. The Ministry of Education scholarship only required a 2.5. Nonetheless, it prepared me to excel abroad.
Today, almost 20 years later, I've given 10 years of service to that same College and we finally started offering BA's in English in 2005 – something of which we teachers of English are proud. Now, we are on the verge of becoming a "UNIVERSITY." And that word either makes people roll their eyes, suck their teeth or take a deep deep breath as they stare off into the distance -- as if we are all doomed to suffer somebody else's delusions of grandeur.
I admit that I was one of those people who believed that we ought to have set up a full campus of the University of the West Indies here in Nassau long ago rather than try to go it on our own. It was typical Bahamian arrogance in my view. But the more I thought about the way our country has developed (and failed to develop depending on what you're referring to), and the more I thought about our challenges as an archipelago, the more I realized that we need a national university, developed by us, for us. We need a University that can serve as an engine for development; that can fill the gaps in so many areas of our national life; a university that improves the methods by which we educate and govern ourselves, do business, protect and conserve our environment and our resources, and address social and cultural problems.
The FNM started us on this course when the reform-minded, Ingraham-led government gave COB greater autonomy through the 1995 College Act and negotiated new contracts with the Union of Tertiary Educators after the departure of education legend, Keva Bethel. The PLP and Franklin Wilson furthered the agenda when they boldly declared they would create a University by 2007 and backed it up first with the appointment of Rodney Smith and now Janyne Hodder and brought about the most dramatic improvements and expansion of COB's infrastructure in its history. Due to a number of setbacks, the 2007 start date is no longer possible but now the FNM has the opportunity to finish what it began 12 years ago by throwing its full weight behind an institution that, if it is properly supported by all sectors of the country, has the potential to almost single-handedly improve the Bahamian way of life.
What does it take to get us there?
1. Improved student services and campus life
2. A university library
3. A reformed governance structure that relies more heavily on Faculty input
4. A greater percentage of PhD's among faculty
5. Greater emphasis on Agriculture and Marine Science
6. Growth in the Area of Visual and Performing Arts
7. Greater Incentives for Faculty research
8. Improved Facilities for Science and Technology
9. Increased enrollment of international students and increased student exchange
10. Greater dissemination of information to the community through radio, Internet, television, seminars, conferences, workshops, short courses and forums.
How do we achieve these? By pooling private and public resources and by the College reaching out to alumni and to current students and the parents of current students to join in a national effort. Are we close? Of course we're close. The College has been offering it's own BA's for 16 years. Even if all ten of the items above are not in place entirely by the time we become the University we have to have made real, visible steps to bringing them all on line.
Imagine a University of The Bahamas that does the marketing research that can assist businesses large and small; doing the case studies that can assist the BAIC, BDB and other entities that support entrepreneurs. Imagine UOB doing the research that helps our Government plan and assess the social, cultural, economic and environmental impact of future investments. Imagine being an incubator for innovation in agri-business and small business generally. Imagine UOB influencing public policy through its research in Education, in Culture, in Tourism. Imagine a university that leads the way in this region in higher education, just as we lead the way in Tourism and Banking. It can happen. If we commit ourselves.
Write me at: ianstrakan@gmail.com and visit http://ianstrachan.wordpress.com
http://www.thenassauguardian.com/editorial/333756787293842.php
Every single one of my mother's six children attended the College of The Bahamas. I went there because when I was 16 I graduated high school – big up to the GHS class of '85! – and I had absolutely no intention of leaving the country and living on my own at that age. Furthermore, I hadn't applied anywhere. I hadn't even thought of applying. I never even got to sit the SAT. I went straight to COB.
Once there I changed my major quite a few times and met one or two weird professors. (Now I'm one of those weird professors!) But all in all it was a positive, life-changing experience. Not because of the great conditions; don't get me wrong folks. The library was small and we went there mostly to talk. The campus was overrun with rats – I remember I finally got to kill one before I graduated – and the cafeteria food was . . . well, cafeteria food. And let's not forget registration. Waiting to register made you feel like a refugee fleeing civil war, stuck on a mile-long line in the middle of a desert on the border of an inhospitable country. But the professors were mostly very good at what they did and they seemed to enjoy teaching. I'm talking about people like Pearl Monaghan, Roger Kelty, Angela Darville, Nicolette Bethel, Patricia Glinton-Meicholas, Leslie Symonette, Joseph Walker, Joyce Georges, and Claire Belgrave. I finally settled on English and Teacher Education and finished up in the summer of '88. I had to leave the country in order to get my BA. COB simply didn't go that far. I didn't even graduate with a 3.0 average. Grades didn't interest me as much as the ideas themselves. And I have to admit, I had no pressure. The Ministry of Education scholarship only required a 2.5. Nonetheless, it prepared me to excel abroad.
Today, almost 20 years later, I've given 10 years of service to that same College and we finally started offering BA's in English in 2005 – something of which we teachers of English are proud. Now, we are on the verge of becoming a "UNIVERSITY." And that word either makes people roll their eyes, suck their teeth or take a deep deep breath as they stare off into the distance -- as if we are all doomed to suffer somebody else's delusions of grandeur.
I admit that I was one of those people who believed that we ought to have set up a full campus of the University of the West Indies here in Nassau long ago rather than try to go it on our own. It was typical Bahamian arrogance in my view. But the more I thought about the way our country has developed (and failed to develop depending on what you're referring to), and the more I thought about our challenges as an archipelago, the more I realized that we need a national university, developed by us, for us. We need a University that can serve as an engine for development; that can fill the gaps in so many areas of our national life; a university that improves the methods by which we educate and govern ourselves, do business, protect and conserve our environment and our resources, and address social and cultural problems.
The FNM started us on this course when the reform-minded, Ingraham-led government gave COB greater autonomy through the 1995 College Act and negotiated new contracts with the Union of Tertiary Educators after the departure of education legend, Keva Bethel. The PLP and Franklin Wilson furthered the agenda when they boldly declared they would create a University by 2007 and backed it up first with the appointment of Rodney Smith and now Janyne Hodder and brought about the most dramatic improvements and expansion of COB's infrastructure in its history. Due to a number of setbacks, the 2007 start date is no longer possible but now the FNM has the opportunity to finish what it began 12 years ago by throwing its full weight behind an institution that, if it is properly supported by all sectors of the country, has the potential to almost single-handedly improve the Bahamian way of life.
What does it take to get us there?
1. Improved student services and campus life
2. A university library
3. A reformed governance structure that relies more heavily on Faculty input
4. A greater percentage of PhD's among faculty
5. Greater emphasis on Agriculture and Marine Science
6. Growth in the Area of Visual and Performing Arts
7. Greater Incentives for Faculty research
8. Improved Facilities for Science and Technology
9. Increased enrollment of international students and increased student exchange
10. Greater dissemination of information to the community through radio, Internet, television, seminars, conferences, workshops, short courses and forums.
How do we achieve these? By pooling private and public resources and by the College reaching out to alumni and to current students and the parents of current students to join in a national effort. Are we close? Of course we're close. The College has been offering it's own BA's for 16 years. Even if all ten of the items above are not in place entirely by the time we become the University we have to have made real, visible steps to bringing them all on line.
Imagine a University of The Bahamas that does the marketing research that can assist businesses large and small; doing the case studies that can assist the BAIC, BDB and other entities that support entrepreneurs. Imagine UOB doing the research that helps our Government plan and assess the social, cultural, economic and environmental impact of future investments. Imagine being an incubator for innovation in agri-business and small business generally. Imagine UOB influencing public policy through its research in Education, in Culture, in Tourism. Imagine a university that leads the way in this region in higher education, just as we lead the way in Tourism and Banking. It can happen. If we commit ourselves.
Write me at: ianstrakan@gmail.com and visit http://ianstrachan.wordpress.com