$7.5 million in corporate financing needed to develop, coordinate and fund educational initiatives to grow the insurance industry's local labour pool.

Eight Bermuda College students have been selected to receive the first scholarships, which could be worth up to $50,000 each.

Aged 17 to 23 years, the students are insurance majors in the College's Associate in Business Administration course, and had to maintain a 3.0 grade point average to be eligible.

They were selected on the basis of academic capabilities, career planning, citizenship, community service, deportment and personality.

Foundation chairman Brian Hall this week welcomed the students to the BFIS programme, and described them as being among Bermuda's best and brightest.

He said, "The Bermuda insurance market has been built up on two kinds of capital, financial and intellectual. The Bermuda Foundation for Insurance Studies is in the business of developing the intellectual capital necessary to sustain the market's continued growth.

"The educational opportunities we provide these students represents our commitment to the future of this industry. The scholarship winners are the lifeblood of the market's future intellectual capital and our bright hope for tomorrow. I congratulate them and wish them every success.'' The scholarships enable the students to benefit from a newly-agreed cooperation agreement between the Bermuda College and the College of Insurance in New York.

The agreement is aimed at promoting the smooth transition of qualified transfer students from the Associate in Business Administration programme to the College of Insurance's Bachelor of Business Administration programme.