Bermudian participants in the Heritage International Scholarship Trust (HIST) Foundation have reaped a 16.5 percent return on their original investment, a boon to parents who are battling the high cost of post-secondary school education overseas for their children.

And president, Mr. George E. McOuat, who is on the Island from Toronto for the 25th anniversary of Bermuda's involvement, disclosed that Bermuda figures surprisingly prominent in the international effort.

For one thing, the $13-million fund or pool of money that has been built up by the foundation from membership payments is domiciled as an investment in Bermuda at the The Bank of N.T. Butterfield Executor and Trustee Company Ltd.

(Betco). It was moved to Bermuda from the Cayman Islands in 1988.

"We decided to domicile the fund in Bermuda of all the tax havens in the world, because of the efficiency of the banking system, especially at the Bank of Butterfield and because of the ethics of the people,'' said Mr. McOuat.

That fund is growing at a rate, said HIST Foundation vice president, Doreen G.

Johnson, at a rate of $500 thousand a month.

But it was revealed that Bermuda's enrolment of what Mr. McOuat said was "between two and three thousand '' students last year out of an over-all enrolment of about 4,000 in the international programme was probably the largest participation of any single country.

In Canada, the domestic version of the programme enrolled 15,000 last year out of the Canadian population of 25 million people.

The international programme cannot solicit memberships from the United States because of Securities and Exchange Controls, even though it operates in US dollars. But it has begun a move into Latin America.

HIST is distributed by Scholarship Advisors International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Allianz Insurance Company of North America, with $7.5 billion in assets.

It is linked to the German company, Allianz Insurance, the huge property, casualty, life and health company that is said to be the 46th largest company and the sixth largest insurance company in terms of insurance in force, premiums and capital in the world.

A 25th anniversary dinner was held at the Southampton Princess Hotel on Saturday night, which was attended by local enrolment director, Winston J.R.

Jones and Canadian-resident, Bermudian Charles Jeffers, who is now a senior executive in the head office in Toronto.

Advertising section -- Page 31 PHOTO FUND DAY -- Heritage International vice president, administration, Doreen G.

Johnson and president George E. McOuat peruse a HIST foundation brochure.