Working with industry partners has allowed the Bermuda College to develop courses relevant for today’s rapidly changing work landscape, the leader of its career education division said.

Tawana Flood noted that classes in subjects such as artificial intelligence and financial compliance were among the most popular being offered through the Athene Career Development Centre, which opened in April 2022.

More traditional work such as maritime navigation is also in focus with talks taking place about how to encourage more young people into the profession.

Ms Flood, the director of the division of Athora Professional and Career Education, said that courses offered through the centre were created through industry partnerships, while subjects were introduced according to industry demand with internationally recognised qualifications and an eye on the future job market.

She explained: “That’s how we stay relevant — most of the courses are developed in partnership with industry.

“The compliance courses were developed in partnership with overseas institutions, including the International Compliance Association in Britain and the Association of Certified Anti-Money-Laundering Specialists in the US.

“Those institutions were introduced to us by compliance professionals in Bermuda.

“We are looking to prepare our students to compete globally, making sure we have qualifications that are globally recognised, which is very important in the compliance space.

“We had the pandemic and we started offering digital forensics because a lot of the financial crime was online. The curriculum had to change to meet the changes that were taking place within financial institutions.”

The artificial intelligence — foundation and advanced — courses were introduced last year and there have been close to 100 registrants to date.

The in-person courses last for five weeks and take place in the evenings.

There are also workshops for administrative assistants learning how to use AI as “a true assistant”.

Ms Flood said AI was now also expected to be included in the technical qualifications section of résumés for many professions.

“AI touches everyone and it has become an official certification,” she said.

“Now, you can add that you understand prompt engineering and use that sort of terminology, and you can create more efficient processes with the help of AI.

“There is an assignment and a presentation as well to show that you know how to use AI efficiently.”

The centre’s Innovation Lab offers robotics and 3D-printing courses. The college hopes to expand its offerings in these areas in the academic year ahead.

“It represents the future of the workforce as these are emerging trends,” Ms Flood explained.

The centre is offering more online courses in addition to those that students attend in person.

Ms Flood said: “We had this before the pandemic but it became more accepted after. It’s considered a viable option and offers a lot more flexibility.”

There has also been a trend towards “stackable credentials”, which allow students to gain qualifications piecemeal throughout the course of a programme.

The construction of the centre was made possible through a $3.8 million donation by a group of reinsurers including Athene Life Re, a reinsurance subsidiary of Athene Holding.

Officials of the Bermuda College Foundation, donor partners and Bermuda College gathered to celebrate the grand opening in 2022.

Ms Flood said that while the centre provided training according to job trends locally, it “thinks globally”.

“The qualifications should be transferable,” she explained. “The ICA and ACAMS are globally recognised for example. They can transfer to the UK, Singapore.

“With our accounting course, we don’t consider it new but it is always in our schedule because there is a huge demand for local accountants.

“We partner with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, a UK-awarding body.

“ACCA was very attractive in that you didn’t need a college degree in order to earn it. It is a stackable credential. If someone decides to take accounting, they will earn qualifications at each level.

“I may have my master’s in X, Y, Z, but I understand there is a new skill set employers are looking for. An example is someone who has a law degree who comes to do a compliance course.”

Looking ahead to September, Ms Flood revealed that the centre would be expanding with the creation of a compliance academy.

She said: “It’s an opportunity for locals to meet people in the profession.

“We will have multiple instructors and facilitators in the academy. If you are someone who specialises in digital finance, then we will have you come in and speak about that.

“Some accountants have shifted over to compliance at the Bermuda Monetary Authority.”

More courses are planned for the upcoming academic year, covering topics such as human rights and life coaching.

Corporate governance will also be introduced as many professionals in those roles have now met retirement age, Ms Flood said.

“We are hoping to educate the public about what corporate governance is and to explain that it’s a viable career. It is a very lucrative career, I’m told.”

One profession with abundant career opportunities is maritime navigation, not least since Bermuda hosted the America’s Cup in 2017 and received related legacy benefits.

Ms Flood said the centre partnered with the Endeavour sailing programme for its course.

“There is a huge growth in that area,” she explained.

“There are more jobs than Bermudians can take on with the yachts and [the Department of] Marine and Ports Services.

“The qualified staff are maturing and ageing out. There is a lot of discussion around introducing younger people into the profession.”

Financial literacy, book keeping and budgeting are all offered through the centre.

Ms Flood said: “We introduced project management, which is another skill set that companies are looking for. They want to know that you can plan a project from beginning to end, meet deadlines, meet budget or come in under budget.”

She added: “As a division, we are supposed to be able to meet the needs of the workforce so if the workforce shifts, so do we, and we make sure that all the courses are relevant.”

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