deserves a pat on the back for 25 years of steady progress.

The College, which was created out of three very different centres of further education -- the Sixth Form Centre, the Hotel School and the old Technical Institute -- was surrounded by doubters at the beginning, but has emerged as the major centre of higher and further education on the Island.

According to the statistics released by College president Dr. George Cook at last week's celebration, one in two adults in the community have taken at least one course at the College -- an extraordinary figure.

And the College's ability to provide high quality education to university bound young Bermudians while at the same time acting as a superb centre for further education for people already in the workplace or destined for the trades is a testament to the skills of its faculty and staff.

That it was able to do this while divided over several campuses is of even greater credit to them, although Mansfield (Jimmy) Brock, the College's original chief executive, and presidents Dr. Archie Hallett and Dr. Cook deserve mention as well for keeping a physically divided institution united in spirit.

Nonetheless, the College still has to fight to maintain its credibility. It continues to have problems convincing young Bermudians that it should be their first choice for higher education and some parents continue to believe that their children will be better off abroad, sometimes at colleges and universities whose only superlative is the size of their fees.

And competition locally is also growing, with private schools and other training bodies offering post-secondary courses as well.

The College if unjustly ignored by some who do not know that young Bermudians are receiving excellent educations at some of the lowest costs in the world and are then able to transfer to some of the greatest universities in the world, often with scholarships tucked in their pockets.

The greater question is what role the college should play in the future; should it aim to become a full-fledged, four-year, baccalaureate granting college (or even university), or should it remain what it is -- an excellent community college? Dr. Cook sees the future in the guise of a "university college'', providing Bachelor's degrees in selected field such as hotel management and insurance, where there is strong local expertise, while continuing to provide the same broad range of courses to university transfer students and others.

That is probably the right approach, but it is one which will take dedication and unity of purpose; something which has been lacking at the College recently in the fight over the appointment of a new Vice President.

That fight does not augur well for the future; and the College needs to get the dispute over quickly and decisively in order to start building on the great platform created since 1974.