A Bermuda College official has called for an Educational Strategic Plan.

Vice president of Academic and Student Affairs Donald Peters made the call during a speech to the Chartered Institute of Bankers at The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club on Monday.

After noting state leaders in Massachusetts had suggested providing free education for all residents at state community colleges, Dr. Peters put forth his idea.

"While we in Bermuda do not have the kind of economic resources to invest in higher education, I believe that current resources need to be reallocated under some kind of Educational Strategic Plan for educating the population in order to prepare the workforce of the future.'' Dr. Peters suggested that banking and financial institutions assess their manpower needs and then meet with the College to develop ways to educate and train students to fulfil those needs.

And he advised the major banks to stop channeling funds into separate training centres and instead pool their capital to establish a "more cost effective'' partnership with the College.

During his speech, Dr. Peters also shed some light on the College's efforts to prepare students for a career in banking or/and the financial sector.

He revealed that the College had joined other world renowned universities, like Oxford and Princeton, in research in mathematics.

"The Bermuda College is currently involved in research in mathematics more specifically identified as the `Mathematics of Finance','' he explained. "The concept is new and refers to activities in applied mathematics which are concerned with the mathematical modelling of the behaviour of financial markets and of financial derivative products.

"If we can predict how the market is going to move, with math, we can help you make decisions about the future.''