Bermuda could soon see home-grown teachers and nurses coming into the workplace with plans to launch four-year degree courses at the Island's college.

Bermuda College deputy president Dr. Larita Alford is busy nurturing relationships with Wheelock College in Boston in the hope that a deal can be struck to enable people on the Island to gain a teaching degree without having to go overseas.

Bermuda College is certain that an arrangement can be reached where at least the first two years of the programme are carried out in Bermuda, however, it is attempting to reach a deal where the students never have to leave the Island in order to obtain their teaching qualification from Wheelock.

Dr. Alford is also working with the Chief Executive Officer of King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, Stephanie Reid, and Hampton University in Virginia to work out a similar arrangement for a nursing degree.

However, in that case, students may have to spend some of their programme working and studying in the US after spending the first two years on the Island.

The proposals were last night hailed as a big plus for Bermuda, which, like many countries, is suffering from a severe lack of teachers and nurses, especially from Bermuda.

College president Dr. Michael Orenduff said the move to form closer links with universities overseas was part of the college's new approach to providing further education on the Island.

In the past, it was hoped that Bermuda College could become a university college, but the present Board of Governors believes that would not necessarily be cost-effective, and wishes instead to concentrate on two-year programmes, with the use of overseas institutions to complete degrees.

Dr. Orenduff said: "We are pursuing several partnerships at the moment, but we are trying to move ahead with plans for a teacher training course, for elementary teachers, and a nursing degree.

"We are hoping to get them in place by next September. Bermuda needs both nurses and teachers - there is a real shortage of them here. We have a lot of nurses and teachers coming here from overseas, but it would be nice to have Bermudians who were qualified to do the jobs."

Chairman of the Bermuda Hospitals Board Ianthia Simmons-Wade said CEO Mrs. Reid had taken the matter to the college and had been the driving force behind it.

She said discussions had been ongoing with two universities, but particularly Hampton.

Mrs. Simmons-Wade said the thought of producing scores of home-grown nurses on the Island was very exciting, and said the board was already considering talking to guidance counsellors about promoting the profession and the route into it.

She said: "This certainly provides an opportunity for people interested in nursing and unable to go overseas, at least for part of the time, the chance to join the profession.

"With the shortage of nurses in Bermuda, this will give us the opportunity to start educating nurses on our own soil in conjunction with Hampton University.

"This is a major step for the hospital and we are working quite vigorously to get it in place. We are very pleased Bermuda College is working with us."

Mrs. Simmons-Wade said it was also hoped the programme would attract people from other small islands that did not have nursing courses.

She said she believed a lot of people who have undergone geriatric aid training, who would have liked to have become nurses but were unable to leave the Island, will take up the new opportunity.

She added: "A certain amount of practical work will be done here, but it may be that part of the degree has to be done overseas, however, it may not be necessary for people to have to spend as much as two years abroad.

"Hampton is an excellent nursing university and this is very good news for Bermuda."