Bermudians by the International Companies Division (ICD) of the Chamber of Commerce is being revamped.

The awards programme, which is run by ICD's International Companies Education Awards (ICEA) committee, is the largest outside Government on the Island.

ICEA is attempting to increase the awareness of the programme among international companies and possible recipients alike.

More of the ICD's 180 member firms are being asked to contribute to the programme, said ICEA chairwoman Mrs. Gayle Gorman.

"At the moment, the proportion that contributes is not the whole membership,' she said. "There are about ten to 15 companies who we can rely on for fairly substantial contributions.

"Now we're trying to focus in getting the majority of the membership to give something, even in a small way.'' The minimum contribution requirement to ensure that a scholarship is named after a company is being raised from $3,000 to $5,000 per annum, she said.

There are currently 16 named awards.

"These scholarships are already the biggest of their kind in the private sector,'' said Mrs. Gorman, who works for School College and University Underwriters Ltd. "We want to make them even bigger.'' The ICEA also wants to create closer links between an award recipient and the company which is sponsoring him or her, said fellow committee member Mr. David Ezekiel, who runs International Advisory Services.

"This could take the form of the student possibly being offered a summer job with their sponsor,'' said Mr. Ezekiel. "At the very least, we would like to see constant contact between the two.'' He added: "During 1992, we decided to take a fresh look at our programme to see what needed to be changed. "We realised we needed to do something in the way the awards were structured and even the terms of the selection criteria.

"We asked if we were meeting the needs of the people out there and also if the selection process needed to be streamlined.'' The upshot was that the programme has become more flexible and more efficient, he said.

About 80 students normally apply for the 16 or so awards which are up for grabs annually, with a selection committee determining who is successful.

Awards often last for several years, with approximately 50 students in the system at any one time.

There are few restrictions on who can apply, although applicants must be Bermudian and have some sort of interest in business.

ICEA's awards programme was set up in 1977 as part of the initiatives to celebrate the Queen's silver Jubilee, said Mrs. Gorman.

"It was started by a select group of private individuals associated with international companies in Bermuda who decided it was an ideal way to put something back into Bermuda,'' she added.

The awards later came under the auspices of the ICD of the Chamber of Commerce.

In 1977, a total of $10,000 was on offer but the programme has grown ten-fold since then. The total amount given out to Bermudians since inception comes to more than $1 million.

Any companies or individuals seeking further information on the ICEA programme should contact Bermuda Chamber of Commerce.

REVAMP -- ICEA members Mr. David Ezekiel and committee chairwoman Mrs. Gayle Gordon.