Rabain lists challenges, changes at Bermuda College
Bermuda College faces the challenge of lower enrolment in the face of a decreasing youth population, the Minister of Education said yesterday.
Diallo Rabain told MPs that the institution saw it as an issue but continued to diversify its curriculum.
In the college’s 2023-24 annual report, 423 students under age 25 were enrolled last year.
The previous year’s number stood at 440 while in 2021, the number stood at 455. It was 546 in 2020.
The education minister said 102 students graduated from the college in 2023, with 80 per cent indicating that they would recommend it to others.
Mr Rabain said teaching and learning at the college continued to evolve.
He added: “Students began the previous academic year with a hybrid format and concluded the year with all in-person learning.”
Mr Rabain said the college now had the infrastructure to support online learning whenever it was needed.
MPs heard that the college continued to expand academic options, evidenced by new transfer pathway agreements signed with several US-based institutions.
They included Troy University in Alabama, Kentucky State University and Thomas College in Maine.
He said the college also offered online nursing degrees at the University of South Carolina Upstate, the University of Bridgewater in Connecticut, and Walden University in Minnesota.
Pathway agreements, known as articulation agreements, allow students to begin their studies more affordably at the Bermuda College and transfer credits to one of nearly 40 postsecondary institutions in Canada, the Caribbean, the United States or Britain.
Mr Rabain said that with the college celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, its 2025-2030 strategic plan would serve as a blueprint for the future of higher education on the island.
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