Executives of The Union of Tertiary Educators of The Bahamas (UTEB) are very concerned that College officials have remained tight-lipped in the face of what are very questionable and, perhaps, intentionally misleading public statements by government and BAMSI officials trying to tie BAMSI AND COB together.
From the inception, COB’s involvement with the institute has been a source of contention and confusion, with COB’s forced relationship with BAMSI amounting to nothing more than a charade. Over the almost two years of discussions, COB’s Council and administration have allowed the government to use COB to give the ill-conceived BAMSi as a sense of legitimacy. The efforts being made to do this have placed the college in a precarious position, particularly in light of the fact that there are no written Agreements between the two entities.
The Union understands that BAMSI is a limited company under the Companies Act and is not a government institution although it is presently being funded by public monies. It is still questionable as to the type of role or relationship that COB can forge with this kind of entity or how public monies can be used to fund a private limited company.
Today, the answers to these questions and the relationship between the two entities are still no clearer than when the two bodies started meeting almost two years ago.
The one College official who has spoken on the matter, VP of Operations, Dr. Ian Strachan, has gone on record to in saying that a memorandum of understanding was still being negotiated between the two institutions to determine how the two will work together.
And despite government’s officials’ claims that BAMSI has entered into a MOU with the University of Miami, the shame is that it still has not yet done the same with COB!
Therefore, despite public statements from government and BAMSI executives, there have been no courses or programs approved by the Academic Board of COB for use at BAMSI. The Union sees it as deceptive and misleading for these officials to make such statements purporting that there have been. The only agricultural courses and programs that have been approved by the Board have been approved as a revision and/or update to the current associate degree in agricultural science being offered at COB.
In the absence of a signed MOU, BAMSI would be violating COB’s intellectual property rights should the institute start instructing students in the next two weeks using COB courses and program. In many ways, this could amount to willing copyright infringement. Faculty at the College are extremely concerned about the precedence that this would set and expect the College Council to guard against any infraction, by ensuring that this is not the case.
Further, and of important note, at no point in the academic year did COB do any recruitment of faculty, in any discipline, to teach at the North Andros institute. In fact, COB’s budget has been cut by $3.5 million dollars this 2014-15 year, and COB has been unable to recruit sufficient Faculty to meet its own demands, let alone BAMSI. The School of Chemistry, Environmental & Life Science at COB, the department most closely related to BAMASI, has not been able to recruit one new faculty, even though the department needs at least four. In addition, other essential faculties are similarly challenged by the financial cuts to the institution and this shortage is directly impacting our students and COB’s ability to provide essential services to currently enrolled students.
The Union has consistently advised the Chairman of the College Council to be cautious in his zeal to partner COB with this government driven entity that still lacks clear planning, direction, or accountability. We have also advised the Chairman against BAMSI’s exploitation of the already strained intellectual capital and physical resources of the cash strapped College.
BAMSI claims to be a highly funded, autonomous institute with a President and Director. Therefore, it should have the necessary compliment of administrators and personnel to hire faculty to meet its own needs, as well as design and run its own courses and programs. UTEB would expect this to at least have been a part of the plan/plans that the President and consultants for BAMSI claim that they have. If they are truly understanding of the operations of institutions of higher learning they would know that this would have to be in place before acres were planted, virgin forest cleared, and buildings built.
Faculty expect that before any commitment is made on behalf of the college that the entire plan be shared, if in fact there is one. Until an overall master plan for the proposed running of the institute has been presented to the governing board of the College, with the necessary funding for an agreed plan that speaks to the relationship between COB and BAMSI, the Union once again asks the College to refrain from moving forward and committing COB employees to what appears to be an academic Titanic. For our own institution's protection, the college must follow protocol by having a signed MOU in place that outlines the benefits of COB’s involvement with BAMSI. This of course must also be shared, in amiable discussion, with all stakeholders.
While the Union and the Faculty it represent understand well the need for food security, and how an institute like BAMSI could be crucial to the development of the University of The Bahamas, we also are aware that institutions or entities are not or should not be developed and implemented by governments and other entities and then “given,” somewhere down the road, to the College/University to run. This form of University development is dangerous to the essence and core of a college or university. The Union expects that the governing body of the College is able to guard against this apparent dangerous form of institutional development, will remove the politics of things from its decision making, and refrain from allowing the institution to be used as a part of this current public charade.
