A new hi-tech career development centre was yesterday officially opened at Bermuda College following donations of $3.8 million from local businesses.

Diallo Rabain, the education minister, hailed the move as a way for people to “seek their dreams”.

The Athene Career Development Centre boasts a computer lab, an “active classroom” which caters for a variety of learning styles, including for people with disabilities, and an “innovation lab” complete with robotics and 3-D printing.

It represents the first major new development on campus for 25 years.

The donations for the centre, which takes in a new wing of the college, came from Athene Life Re, Athora Holdings and Aspen and Catalina Holdings, have also powered refurbishment of the a lecture theatre, and the instalment of technology enhancements across the campus.

Referring to the centre as a “beautiful facility”, Mr Rabain said: “The Bermuda Government has a mantra that we should be able to give whatever we need to not prevent anyone from seeking their dreams.”

Dr Duranda Greene, Bermuda College president, said the opening represented a “significant step of a providing a model of 21st Century learning”.

She added: “Investments like these portend well for both our students and the wider community.

“The centre and lecture theatre represent prototypes of what Bermuda College envisions for all its instructional and office spaces.

“The centre allows for the exploration of ideas, testing of concepts, and multidisciplinary collaborations.

“With its adaptive technologies, robotics, and collaborative spaces, the centre allows for the exploration of ideas, testing of concepts and multidisciplinary collaboration.”

Dr Greene said it was good to work with business on such projects.

She said: “As the landscape of higher learning continues to evolve, I am pleased to say that thanks to partnerships like these, Bermuda College will evolve with it.”

Natasha Scotland Courcy, chief operating officer of Athene Life Re, said: “Both current and future Bermuda College students, and the wider community, will have access to cutting-edge resources to help foster their curiosity and their drive during their college journeys and beyond.

“We are very excited to see how the Bermuda College community leverages these new tools and to watch Bermuda’s talented young people jump-start their careers at the centre.”

Gary Madeiros, Bermuda College Foundation deputy chairman, said the partnership with donors worked well on the development centre project.

He said: “The result is exemplary and must be replicated throughout the campus as we work to fulfil the vision of a fully funded state of the art Bermuda College.”

The opening of the centre had originally been slated for last November, but the Covid crisis and problems with supplies arriving caused delays.