The Island's only post secondary institution is "grossly underutilised'' an official claimed.

Dr. Donald Peters, vice president of Academic and Student Affairs at Bermuda College yesterday told Hamilton Rotarians the school's role in society's development was minimal.

And he said a second look had to be taken at the "tremendous potential'' of the College as a bridge to the 21st century.

"Bermuda College is the Island's only post secondary institution, yet its role in the society's development is minimal, in most societies colleges and universities are at the centre of the development of new ideas, new technology. problem solving and global education,'' Dr. Peters said. "Bermuda College has the capacity to be all of that to the country.

He said the school's faculty, which was trained to do research, should be used to gather data on local issues.

And he suggested expanding programmes in international banking, business, insurance and hotel administration to four-year programmes.

Dr. Peters also pointed out that post secondary education in the 21st century will not be an option, but a necessity.

"We at the Bermuda College believe that post secondary education in the 21st century will no longer be an option,'' he said. "As the world takes on the new structure of a global village, linked globally by advanced education and technology, the need for workers with a college based education will become critical.'' Dr. Peters said American statistics predicted that by the year 2010, 80 percent of all future jobs will require post secondary education.

Dr. Peters said the college had already incorporated all of the skill building programmes into their curriculum.

And he said that the college had also taken further steps to prepare students for the new millennium, including: recruiting a professor of mathematics from Cornell University to teach and work with the students and teachers to improve mathematical learning skills; reducing the number of faculty class hours from 24 to 22 to give the staff more time to work with students in developing critical thinking; adjusting entry requirements to create more access for student to higher education; upgrading standards to ensure students could not graduate without a minimum grade point average of 2.0; and purchasing 15 new computers for the library and opening the facility seven days a week.