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Last Updated: Feb 21, 2017 - 11:54:56 PM |
University of The Bahamas: At the Starting Line remarks made by Dr. Rodney D. Smith, President at The Culinary and Hospitality Management Institute on February 21, 2017:
I want to welcome all members of the media to our campus. And, thank you for attending this second Media Day.
Those of you who attended the last Media Day will recall that several presentations were made by the administrative leadership. Allow me to introduce the members of the President’s Cabinet or better known as the Administrative Council.
Prior to becoming the university on November 10, 2016, my mantra was that “we were racing toward the starting line.”
I used this phrase to convey the sense of urgency associated with the work we were doing; but, there is considerably much more work to be done as we develop an institution that will be both viable and competitive.
Now that the University has been chartered, we have aggressively begun work on some of our most important goals.
Our Vice President for Human Resources, Dr. Mychal Coleman, often reminds us that the initiatives with which we are progressing in our first year take other institutions of higher education several years. In other words, we are taking on four major institution-wide initiatives, simultaneously, not to prove that we could, but rather because they all feed into one equation; an equation that results in increased efficiency, effectiveness and viability. The four major initiatives are Institutional Accreditation, a University Strategic Plan, an institution-wide data management system, and initiating a Capital Campaign.
Accreditation
The University has begun the process necessary to become accredited at both national and international levels. I am currently serving on the National Accreditation & Equivalency Council of The Bahamas. This Council, a replacement for what was essentially a “registration process of post-secondary institutions at the Ministry of Education” is now a body that is charged with determining and setting quality standards for higher education in The Bahamas. This council, referred to as NAECOB, now serves as the official national accreditation body.
Internationally, we have initiated application for accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).
SACS accreditation is one of the most stringent accrediting bodies in the United States, and perhaps the world, given how many universities around the world are now seeking SACS accreditation, including UWI.
Acquisition of this accreditation will ensure that the University raises and maintains standards of quality and accountability across all levels of the institution.
Dr. Danny Davis, Director of Strategic Planning, Strengthening and Accreditation, will share additional information on the benefits of becoming an accredited institution.
As we grow our graduate programmes, we will also attract graduate students to The Bahamas for advanced degrees. For instance, we intend to create what I call hybrid graduate studies. For example, we are a small island developing state, an archipelagic country, with resources not found anywhere else in the world. We have the opportunity to offer graduate studies in Small Island Sustainable Development, allowing graduate students the opportunity to spend a semester at the Gerace Research Institute in San Salvador, a semester at the Cape Eleuthera Institute, a semester at BAMSI and finally a semester at the GTR Campbell Small Island Sustainability Research Complex at the main campus here in Nassau, completing either a master’s thesis or a doctoral dissertation.
This kind of symbiosis, allows a most beneficial relationship between graduate studies, scientific research, and access to international grant sources.
Our Provost, Dr. Linda Davis will share additional information in these areas.
The second major initiative that began in October of last year, is the migration of all institutional data to a system-wide data management system known as Banner.
Banner is the most sophisticated data management system used by leading colleges and universities around the world. It is used in over 40 countries and UB will have the most sophisticated and most advanced version to date.
Banner is designed to “enable the most critical needs and processes in an institution.” It will definitely take the University to the highest level in terms of how we serve our students, how we attract talent and how we manage our finances and all other administrative issues. It will also move us towards paperless transactions.
Capital Works
Along with all of this is the need to continually improve and develop university campuses.
As an integral part of providing adequate facilities for our students, faculty and staff, we are working on completing the construction of residence halls in Grand Bahama, and very soon, this year, we will break ground for a 1,000-bed residence hall complex at the Oakes Field campus.
This new building will do much more than provide necessary housing for our growing main campus. It will help to make this campus more internationally appealing as we provide degree programmes that will be of interest to international students. This 21st century style of living on campus will help us to attract, retain and grow our family island numbers as well as international student populations. We will have both accreditation and housing working together to help make our student population more diverse.
However, one of the most important things that residence halls do for a campus is to significantly develop a healthy and exciting living and learning environment. For too long we have essentially been a commuter campus. Having students live on campus will be a real investment in developing the type of thriving campus life that distinguishes other universities. More importantly, creating a residential campus will increase retention and progress toward graduation.
Now, we want our students to also experience other countries. We know the value of having international experiences. The University will be implementing a requirement that all students must complete a study abroad experience by the end of their junior year. To help accomplish this requirement, we will be working with the Ministry of Education to create study abroad scholarships.
Of course, the primary requirement is that all students must complete their senior and final year at the University of The Bahamas in order to graduate.
As we grow the University, we have made a commitment to diversifying our course offerings.
New Academic Programmes
As mentioned previously, an important part of the work we are doing is creating new programmes of study to attract new students and to retain those we have for post-graduate study.
In particular, we will be looking to introduce a 5-year Masters in Architecture programme, a six- year doctorate of Pharmacy programme and a 5-year MBA, along with an array of executive development certification programmes.
The University of The Bahamas, offers tremendous opportunities for students. These are the kinds of opportunities that are normally only available to the very highest achievers at ivy league-type universities.
For instance, currently, we have UB students in our Architecture, Arts and Culinary programmes working together on the design presentations for The Bahamas’ pavilion at Expo 2020, which will be held in Dubai. These students will have all expenses paid to travel to, present and even supervise the construction of something that grew from their vivid imagination. Imagine how far this will take their careers. In the fall of this year, we expect that our Bachelor’s programme in Architecture will be implemented; and very soon, we will be seeking to have our students serve as interns at the Disney Imagineering programme.
The University’s main focus will be on reaching all Bahamians. Last summer we introduced the highly successful Summer Bridging Programme, which served to bridge the gap for students who did not complete their high school education or lacked the requisite national exam passes for direct entry into the university. We had an 80% success rate with the first cohort. These students gained successful admission to the University.
Another key ingredient to serving the educational and training needs of all Bahamians is the tie-in to your industry: the Culinary and Hospitality Bridge Certificate Programmes.
These module international certification programmes are the Laureate International modules, offered at the University, in conjunction with Kendall College in Chicago, Illinois.
These module programmes will provide international certification for persons already in the industry as well as prepare students to enter the workforce in hospitality or any of its allied organizations.
The modules are also designed to advance certificate holders to any one of the associate degree programmes with onward matriculation into bachelor degree programmes offered through UB’s Hospitality and Tourism Studies in the Faculty of Business, Hospitality and Tourism Studies.
Ultimately, we intend that the University of The Bahamas will become the number one producer of quality trained chefs and innovative industry professionals in the region; and this will have a great impact on our industry and its product.
Giving Priorities
Essential to the success of the University, are the partnerships we make and maintain. Without the considerate and targeted giving of our donors and friends, we are limited – but with sustained, consistent giving we can be limitless in our outlook and development.
Some of our giving priorities are:
- Named Endowed Student Scholarship as well as Endowed Professorships Business Incubator and Entrepreneurial Studies
- 10,000-seat Multipurpose Convocation Centre
- Arts Museum Complex
- Performing Arts Centre Renaissance, and
- Culinary and Hospitality Facilities Renovation and Business Development
Conclusion
I have touched on just a few of the major changes that are happening now that we are the University of The Bahamas. My colleagues will elaborate on several of these initiatives and answer any questions you may have.
© Copyright 2017 by thebahamasweekly.com
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