Stronger links between Bermuda College and overseas institutions will be a “tremendous opportunity” for island students, a college academic said.

Phyllis Curtis-Tweed, the vice-president of academic and student affairs at Bermuda College, added that she was excited by the school's 29 revamped agreements with colleges in Britain, the United States and Canada.

She said: “It creates the kind of pathways that we need in Bermuda to help Bermudians attain the higher qualifications they need.

“It really promotes this institution as one of excellence.”

Dr Curtis-Tweed said that while some of the partnerships had been in place for some time, all were revised over the course of the last year to be “two-plus-two agreements”.

She explained: “What this means is if a student comes to Bermuda College and completes their associate degree, they can complete that baccalaureate degree within two years.”

Dr Curtis-Tweed said that the arrangements would allow students to save a “considerable amount” of money by completing their associates degree in Bermuda and then move to a college or university abroad.

She added that the schemes also removed uncertainty about which colleges students might be accepted at.

Dr Curtis-Tweed said: “Students are assured that they're going to be able to get into that college — provided that they meet the requirements.”

She added that some programmes required a higher grade point average than the 2.0 mark students needed to graduate from Bermuda College.

Dr Curtis-Tweed said that several of the colleges Bermuda College had agreements with offered incentives for Bermudian students.

Georgia State University had agreed that Bermuda students would pay the same tuition fees as a student from the state — which was less than the international student rate.

Dr Curtis-Tweed added: “There are a number that are like that.” She said that during the past year, school officials had examined government job reports to identify areas of need, which included the healthcare field.

Dr Curtis-Tweed explained the school was in the process of a transformation of its nursing division “to start offering programmes that will help us to fulfil areas of need in Bermuda”.

A pre-health programme scheduled to start next year will offer two courses — a general clinical track for students interested in physical or occupational therapy or public health and a medical track for those interested in a pre-medicine degree.

Partnerships for both tracks are being developed with academic institutions in Grenada and Canada.

She said: “That's really an exciting piece of news, because we have a lot of expatriates in the healthcare area.

“We need to make sure we are training Bermudians.”

Dr Curtis-Tweed said that access to training abroad had been restricted in the past, in part due to the cost. She added: “Having at least the two-year programme here provides that foundation.”

A diagnostic medical imaging course is being considered for 2020.