Access to medical and veterinary schools in the sunny Caribbean was expanded for students yesterday as the Bermuda College formally linked with a Grenada university.

The Bermuda College signed an articulation agreement with St. George's University (SGU) which will allow students in the college's associate degrees to complete a medical or veterinary degree in seven years.

After completion of an associate degree, students will be eligible for either a one-year pre-medical or pre-veterinary programme at SGU.

An additional year at the school will allow students to complete a Bachelor of Science in those programmes and they can complete their professional degrees in three years either the medical school or veterinary school.

On hand for the signing of the agreement between the two schools were SGU's vice chancellor emeritus Dr. Keith Taylor and dean of enrolment and planning/university registrar Margaret Lambert.

“Bermudian students will benefit in a number of ways,” Ms Lambert said. “Firstly, they will be able to get their BSc degrees in four years.

“The school is quite competitive at the bachelor's level. Only one in five or six students is accepted out of high school.

“If students from Bermuda are accepted and complete all necessary requirements throughout their BSc, however, they will be guaranteed acceptance to the medical school.”

Ms Lambert admitted that SGU has been known as a ‘fall back' or ‘safety' school for Americans who could not get into medical programmes in the United States. “In part that (reputation) is still true,” she said. “But we don't necessarily see that as a negative thing.

“When you have highly restrictive admission policies in the United States, that doesn't necessarily mean the people we're taking are substandard.”

Ms Lambert said increasingly the school is being chosen by American students who have been accepted at US schools as well.

And last year, SGU graduates beat their American counterparts in terms of their pass rate on the US Medical Licensing Exams (the “boards”) - SGU grads posted a 93 per cent pass rate.

Ms Lambert said the school had also expanded its international mission with students from 85 countries within its 2,200 student body.

The percentage of American students has fallen from 95 percent to roughly 70 percent, she added.

With Grenada's average yearly temperature of 85F, population of 89,000 and close proximity to other Caribbean isles, SGU boasts obvious appeal to international students.

Ms Lambert said yearly tuition is comparable to the United States at US $28,000 per year and living expenses can range from $7,000 per year to $15,000.

“Living expenses can vary widely,” she said, “depending if you want to eat simply, dine out or sail off to Martinique every so often.”

Once in the professional schools, students spend only part of their time in Grenada and part of it on rotation programmes at affiliated hospitals in the United States and Canada, the dean added.

“It's another added benefit that students will experience medicine and practice in the Caribbean, the US and the United Kingdom,” she said.

Bermudians should not be worried about a sub-standard living conditions in Grenada, either, said Dr. Milton Burgess - one of the key individuals involved in developing the link between the college and SGU.

“It is just to the contrary, the living conditions and environment are exceptional,” Dr. Burgess said.

SGU's medical school was founded in 1976, while the veterinary school is much younger - the charter class which began in 1999 will graduate in 2003.

Ms Lambert said the vet school is “doing very well” with a current enrolment of 270 students.

There are seven Bermudians currently attending SGU and one graduate is undertaking post-graduate training in New York.

“As a two-year community college here, we have to be seen to be in the business of trying to provide access to tertiary education beyond the two years that we are currently providing,” said the college's vice-president of student and academic affairs, Dr. Larita Alford.

“We're pleased about this. Very pleased, and we look forward to seeing the first graduates of this new and distinguished partnership.”

SGU offers medical programmes to the doctoral level.