Above: the College of the Bahamas

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The government of the Bahamas will be receiving a $16.18 million loan from the Caribbean Development Bank, the CDB announced this week.

The funding will help with an “institutional and physical makeover” at the College of the Bahamas.

Among the initiatives that will receive funding are a new 100-student residence hall and a new business centre.

The loan was approved at the CDB’s recent Board of Directors meeting in Barbados.

“The transformation of COB is part of a national strategic goal to enhance the human resource capacity of the country to meet its existing and emerging socio-economic development needs,” said Deidre Clarendon, officer in charge of the projects department at the CDB. “This project is the first phase of a wider transformation programme to support COB’s transition to university status by 2015.”

The project is part of a push by the College of the Bahamas to attain university status by the year 2015, according to Clarendon.

The loan will also fund “energy efficiency enhancements, and consultancy services for development of the legislative framework for university status and for the development of Enterprise Risk Management and Quality Assurance systems,” according to the CDB.

“CDB’s involvement in the tertiary education sector in the Caribbean is informed by its Education and Training Policy and Strategy,” Clarendon said. “This strategy supports investments for increasing and broadening access, improving efficiency and effectiveness, strengthening institutional capacity and enhancing technological capacity.”