The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

IN mid-July 1979, international scholars attended a two-day academic conference held at the University of Miami centred on Issues in Caribbean Studies.

The Bahamas became a subject of focus at this conference when John Reid of the Toledo University, Ohio Research Centre for Higher Education presented a 30-page paper on his research, Higher Education in an Emerging Nation: The College of the Bahamas as a Case study.

Reid, while noting the infancy of the country having attained independence in 1973, praised the ideas – love, unity, common and lofty goals, and salvation – conveyed in the Bahamian national anthem of what the emerging nation wanted to achieve and be identified with.

“To fulfil ideals and to achieve particular goals, a nation must depend on its educational system to produce articulate, wise, and well-trained men and women,” he said.

“In recognition of this truth, the Bahamas government has tried in recent years to improve the country’s educational system through a number of changes and innovations. The most dramatic development has been the creation of the College of the Bahamas, which took place on December 19, 1974.”

These thoughts on national development and identity through higher education follow on the heels of academician Torsten Husen, who in a 1977 Higher Education in the World Community journal publication, spoke about such in his contributing article “The Community: Its Nature and Responsibilities”.

“In newly established or emerging countries there is a natural striving for national identity. Because the university represents the pinnacle of cultural and intellectual endeavours in a country, the establishment of a national university becomes an important symbol of identity.”

The College of the Bahamas was established a year after independence with the goal of leading national development with its eventual transition to university status. Nearly four decades later, the institution, though close and striving to get there, has yet to hit that mark due to a number of its own internal and external challenges.

One of the more pressing external concerns that could hinder the transition to university status is funding. The institution is subsidized by the government of the Bahamas. In fact, some 56 per cent of COB’s operating budget comes from the Ministry of Education which receives roughly 24 per cent of the country’s annual budget.

The rest of the College’s resources come from student tuition and whatever donations the institution receives from private entities or individuals.

In mid-December, COB president Dr Betsy Vogel Boze received a letter from the Ministry of Finance detailing the 25 per cent cut to its subsidy over a two-year period and this shortfall is to be achieved without any reduction in quality and level of services to the public or decrease in staff.

Dr Vogel Boze, to her credit, has made a commitment to make use of what is being given to the institution over the next two years while continuing the transition of the college to university, even though she noted the significant challenge the organisation faces with cuts to its subsidy.

Much has been said about the 38-year-old “university hopeful” institution since the government confirmed media reports that it will be slashing its subvention to the college.

Critics of the institution argue that subtracting over $2 million from the college’s already small $49.6 million operating budget – as of June 30, 2012 according to COB’s most recent fact sheet – will compel the institution to improve efficiency in all of its departments, including the proper management of the resources.

Those who sympathise with the outraged student body believe that the move, which may and will likely require a rise in tuition (though some say it is still more affordable than most institutions abroad), will do more harm than good for the students already struggling to afford classes and materials due to the lingering effects of the 2008 global economic recession.

Students further argue that a COB education is not worth the proposed rise in tuition, citing claims of ongoing problems such as rodent infestation, mould, a decaying physical plant, inadequate security and rampant inefficiency, among other things.

Having attended the institution, I am perfectly capable of listing the problems – though I will not at this time – COB needs to tackle before mouthing the word “university” and the year “2015” in the same sentence.

Confidence in COB’s transition to university by the 43rd anniversary of Independence is not very high considering the country’s mounting national debt and the government’s willingness to weaken the pivotal pillar intended to drive and sustain national development.

With that said, I am not ignorant of the significant progress the institution has made and credit should be given when and where it is due. COB in 2013 is in many ways, better than what it was when founded in December 1974, nearly 18 months after the then-Progressive Liberal Party government pushed for and succeeded in freeing the Bahamas from colonial rule.

“Much has been accomplished since then,” COB immediate past Jeanine Hodder said in 2009 when the college unveiled its 10-year-strategic plan for the transition to the University of the Bahamas.

“After nearly 35 years of serving the Bahamas, first as a two-year institution, then as a four-year degree granting college, the College of the Bahamas expects to become University of The Bahamas – a goal which was foreshadowed when the College was created in 1974,” she said.

The then government, led by the late Sir Lynden Pindling, having achieved the goal of gaining the Bahamas’ independence from the United Kingdom, had the foresight to create an institution aimed at playing a pivotal role in national development and identity.

The Free National Movement administration, led by then Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, built on what the previous administration started, and initiated the university transition process when, in June 1995, it enacted legislation that granted COB full autonomy of its affairs.

The PLP, prior to its May 2012 landslide general election victory over the FNM and Democratic National Alliance, made a promise to the Bahamian populace that it would double the education budget. With Prime Minister Perry Christie at the helm, this government has committed itself to seeing COB become the University of the Bahamas by 2015, completing what had been started by the country’s first and second prime ministers and their administrations.

After nearly two decades of government changes, the repercussions of the 911 terrorist attacks, natural disasters, rising crime, trenchant illiteracy and rising unemployment levels, and the most devastating global recession experienced since the Great Depression in the 1930’s, the recently elected government decided to dream big.

As preposterous as it sounded, which many political rivals, analysts, and local dailies called it, (perhaps in friendlier terms), the voting populace bought into the dream, as they did with many of the other campaign promises made.

A year later, the same government, is defending the proposed cuts to COB’s subvention. While it is noted that cuts are being made across the board, education and by extension, higher education should be the last place to be hit with budget cuts and even then, efforts should be made to avoid cuts to education subsidies altogether.

Major world countries, including the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China, important economic partners for the Bahamas, have chosen to increase their investment in education in spite of the current global economic climate.

In the words of former COB council chairman, T. Baswell Donaldson in his contribution to the strategic plan for COB’s University transition 2009-2019, “the greatest competitive advantage a country can build is its people.”

“When people are educated, innovative, and capable of applying their talent to the issues of the day, countries flourish,” he said.

The questions to be answered by the government of today, is whether it is prepared to “outsource the higher education of its people?” and whether it has already forgotten its promise to fulfil the independence dream of the then PLP government to seeing a University of the Bahamas established?

Independence does not only mean throwing off the shackles of colonial power, but empowering its people through “educational programmes, vocational programmes, to teach and to develop skills of economic importance” giving the people a fighting chance to have a real stake in their country and their futures. The death of this independence dream may be a likely reality if the government does not accept the responsibility of investing in its people.

This too was also the late Sir Lynden’s dream, but perhaps this government has forgotten this also.

What do you think? Email questions or comments to ljohnson@tribunemedia.net or join the conversation at http://www.tribune242.com/news/opinion/insight/