Bermuda College is contacting major employers to get insight into the type of jobs which will be available on the Island in the next ten years.

The College has commissioned market research company Total Marketing and Communications Ltd. to contact a number of employers to get feedback on the quality and employability of its graduates.

But chairman of the Board of Governors Jan Spiering said the College also wants to get an understanding of what types of jobs will feature strongly in the next ten years so that courses can be tailored to meet them.

And the College also wants to find out from employers which colleges and universities overseas it should liase with when developing courses.

Mr. Spiering told The Royal Gazette yesterday: "We are very interested to find out from employers the types of employees that they see themselves needing in the future.

"In the next ten years what are the employment requirements of major employers?

"That is something we have said we are interested in to align our programmes, not just our associate degrees but our certificate programmes, with respect to employers' needs in Bermuda in the next ten years.

"We are also entering academic partnerships with institutions in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, and we are talking about the needs of employers to ensure that these partnerships are relevant to the needs of employers in ten years and the levels of schools we should be associated with."

In a letter send to employers earlier this month, the college states that a TMC representative may contact them in the next few weeks asking them to take part in the study.

"Excellence and professionalism are a continuum along which we all move: it is only through open dialogue that Bermuda College can hope to continue to improve its standards, and ultimately the quality of professionalism in its graduates," said college communications director Evelyn James Barnett in the letter.

"The report is expected to play a significant role in defining and developing future strategic planning initiatives.

"It is expected that the results of the study will be completed early in the New Year, and shortly thereafter published, with key findings shared with Bermuda College's stakeholders."