Bermuda College students will get the chance to take health care courses at some of America's leading black universities thanks to a new transfer agreement.

And medical students from the US are set to do internships at Bermuda's hospitals as part of the deal. Joint research projects are also in the pipeline.

The programme, to allow Island students to "transfer seamlessly'' to courses in the US, was announced this past Friday by the College, the US-based Minority Health Professional Foundation (MHPF) and the Association of Minority Health Professional Schools (AMHPS).

Bermuda students interested in continuing their health studies in the US will enrol simultaneously with the American colleges and transfer over after two years.

There are 12 institutions -- one school of medicine, four medical, two dental and five pharmacy schools -- in the MHPF, and all are historically black colleges and universities.

The first students to take advantage of the agreement will begin studying in the US in September next year.

College president George Cook said yesterday: "We've established a very firm foundation for future collaboration and we look forward to further discussions with the organisations that will be beneficial for Bermuda and Bermuda College graduates.'' Donald Peters, the vice-president of Academic and Student Affairs, said: "We want to give Bermudian students the chance to study all over the world but there has been an absence of historically black universities. It is great for them to have the chance to study in places that are important to their heritage.'' The institutions represented by the MHPF are Morehouse School of Medicine, Howard University, Florida A&M University, Hampton University, Tuskegee University, Meharry Medical School, Texas Southern University, Xavier University and Charles Drew University.

The right medicine: Announcing the transfer scheme are (from left) Bermuda College vice-president of Academic and Student Affairs Dr. Donald Peters, Minority Health Professions Foundation executive director Carol Lewis, MHPF president Dr. Henry Lewis, Centre for Education director Dr. Gina Tucker, and Bermuda College president Dr. George Cook.