GOVERNMENT has decided to sponsor a new programme aimed at helping students to become more attractive employment prospects to Bermuda's financial services industry.

Patricia Pettit, with Bermuda-based consultancy Pembroke Atlantic, learned of the New England College of Finance (NECF), and its offshoot, the Financial Services Academy (FSA) a few years ago, and thought that its programme would be appropriate and beneficial for the island.

"Government has just decided to fund the FSA programme, and announced it in this year's Budget. The programme is a vehicle by which high school students, who are unable or unwilling to go straight on to university, have a way to get into the financial services and international business communities right out of senior school. This could be huge, and it's very much an industry-driven initiative."

The FSA programme is already in place and working well in Ireland, where the educational authorities in Dublin thought that school-leavers deserved a better chance of getting a job in their fast-growing international business sector.

After some two years of negotiation, Government has agreed to fund the start-up phase, with the industry set to take over after the first year. The location has yet to be decided.

"It's only a four- to six-week course, intended to give an intensive introduction to the basics of the industry, everything from office protocol to understanding an income statement. The course must be ready to take the current senior classes when they graduate this summer."

Mrs. Pettit developed a special interest in education because of her involvement in the annual Tom Pettit essay competition, a memorial to her late husband, who was a highly-regarded news reporter at NBC television.

Bob Regan, president and CEO of the NECF, is visiting the island this week to meet the various stakeholders.

"While we are here in Bermuda, we are meeting with the key constituent groups, Government and the service providers to the Academy, as well as the financial industry participants. We met Minister Terry Lister and a number of his staff in the Education Department on Monday.

"That meeting went very well, and I am very positive about that aspect. We have a number of meetings with some of the major companies and foundations.

"It is a workforce development strategy based on collaboration between the community that provides the students and the industry which hires them. That's fundamentally the same, wherever we operate the Academy.

"The other fundamental is the commitment to ongoing lifelong education and training. In Bermuda, because the Academy is a tool in an economic transformation from tourism to international business, once we had an affirmation of serious interest from the industry, we really thought it important that Government be involved."

Mrs. Pettit explained: "Bob is really the 'father' of the FSA concept, and when we first met, it seemed like a perfect educational programme for Bermuda. From the start of our discussions here, we have talked to Government and to the major industry leaders.

"When Minister Paula Cox was at Education, her enthusiasm really helped to propel the plan. The FSA model is adjusted to meet the requirements of the financial industry in the different jurisdictions, so we really needed to bring the banks and international reinsurers and financial service providers aboard at an early stage."

Initial discussions were held with human resources and training professionals and the business units who were most likely to employ the students, to ensure that their requirements and experience were brought to bear in planning an appropriate course for Bermuda's senior school graduates.

Mrs. Pettit continued: "This is not a public relations exercise. As well as funding to ensure sustainability, we have to ensure that the openings are there when the students graduate from the FSA course.

"Minister Lister did ask some good, tough questions, but it is clear that he and his staff really share the enthusiasm and the vision. It has just taken a little while for the plan to mature. We have meetings planned this week with Ace, XL, AWAC, PWC, the Bank of Bermuda and the Bank of Butterfield."

The core programme focuses on orientation to financial services, workplace protocol and organisational culture, which incorporates such disparate topics as professional conduct and expectations, interpersonal skills, teamwork and group dynamics, the importance of lifelong learning, and the provision of quality customer service.

Mr. Regan, who joined the NECF in 1985 from Digital Electric Corp., suggested that the FSA should be thought of as a "growing-in-place" concept.

"It's a process. There's a beginning to the process of learning, but no end. We are not going to present a ready-made, perfect candidate ready to go to work. We are producing a willing, able person who can grow with the right level of support. In the first place, the candidates have to meet certain criteria, and the criteria are set by the industry."

Once placed in jobs, all FSA graduates will have access to industry-specific online degree programmes at the NECF and its college partners, including University of California at Berkeley, University of Maryland, Drexel University, and New York University, and hiring companies will pay the entire tuition costs.