By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

UNION of Tertiary Educators of the Bahamas President Mark Humes yesterday questioned the government’s “priorities” regarding The College of The Bahamas’ transition to university status, explaining that money spent on new capital works could go towards fixing existing infrastructure issues or faculty.

When asked yesterday, COB officials could not say whether a new deadline for its transition to university status has been set. COB was initially expected to transition into a university in July 2015.

However, College Council Chairman Alfred Sears, QC, said officials hope that the University of the Bahamas Bill will be in Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald’s possession by April.

Mr Sears also said the council has commenced its “formal deliberation” on the Bill.

Both Mr Humes and Mr Sears spoke during a press conference for the signing of a new industrial agreement between UTEB and COB, which officials said would likely be in place after COB becomes the University of the Bahamas.

In October 2014, State Minister of Finance Michael Halkitis brought a resolution to Parliament seeking approval from the House of Assembly to borrow $16m from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) to fund COB’s transformation into a university.

The Golden Isles MP said the loan represented the funding of phase one of the institution’s transition to university status.

Officials have since cited the construction and renovations of several existing buildings on the Oakes Field campus, as well as the breaking of ground on the construction of a residential hall in Grand Bahama as key components of the transition process.

Other key components include the construction of the Franklyn R Wilson graduate studies centre, the GTR Campbell small island sustainability research centre, as well as the construction of COB’s first on-campus residence hall, according to officials.

The construction of a new university entrance is also currently underway.

“When we take into consideration that as we build capacity going towards university, the infrastructure, and the capital work that needs to be done here in the present College of The Bahamas is sort of lacking,” Mr Humes said. “There isn’t the same focus and energy in investing in our current capital issues.”

“I see we’re building this new entrance, and it is a wonderful structure, and it does add to the visibility of the college, but at the same time for those individuals who live and exist in what we currently have, that investment could have gone again to faculty, and many within the institution felt that (the money) could have been invested in the current capital issues that we’re experiencing right now.”

He added: “So for most of us, whereas we see the transition to university as an excellent initiative for us right now, we do have concerns for priorities. Again, we do sit and discuss these things with council, I do express the concerns, we do discuss them, talk about them. But in many ways we do have an issue with how we are prioritizing our financial resources towards the transition to university.”

In response to questions, Mr Sears said the College Council has already begun its “formal deliberation” on the bill and is expected to hold another meeting on the matter before concluding deliberations.

Once the latter is completed, he said COB’s “formal” transition to university status will commence.

“Upon the conclusion of the deliberation, whatever changes the Council determines will be made . . . the bill will then be sent to the minister of education, science and technology,” Mr Sears said. “He will then take it to Cabinet, the Cabinet will have its deliberation and then the bill will be presented in Parliament.”

He added: “We expect that by April the bill will be in the hands of the minister, so the internal process would have concluded, and then it will be really in the hands of the Cabinet and the Parliament and ultimately we hope that that process will move swiftly so that we can begin the formal transition to University of the Bahamas.”