The idea of Bermuda College becoming a university was debated at a public forum last night — with its president Duranda Greene arguing in favour of it offering four-year degrees.

Dr. Greene said her personal view was that turning the college into a degree-awarding institution was the way forward. "The question is when and how," she said.

She appeared on a panel alongside former Attorney General Philip Perinchief and Brian Chapell, the acting president of the University College Cayman Islands (UCCI), at the meeting in the college's North Hall.

Dr. Chapell said he was a "big proponent" of the college making degrees accessible to the people of Bermuda and upgrading its community college status, as his own institution did in 2004.

His presentation to the audience of about 40 people explained how UCCI catered to the Caribbean country's booming financial sector, starting out by offering bachelor's degrees in business subjects like accounting, economics, management and marketing.

It has since introduced computer science and teaching degrees, recently launched a master's degree in human resource management and has plans to offer an MBA.

Dr. Chapell said Cayman's economy relied on some 28,000 work permit holders — about four times the number in Bermuda — so it was critical to understand the demands of the labour market.

He said many Caymanians were unable to leave the islands to pursue further education due to family commitments, so the university college was the ideal solution.

About 80 percent of its student body is local and the number of graduates is expected to be more than 20 this year.

Mr. Perinchief told the forum he had been pushing for Bermuda to have its own university for 48 years — since he was a 17-year-old Berkeley Institute graduate with limited options for continuing his education due to the costs of overseas study.

He said he believed the college had the potential to become a six-year degree-awarding body, offering master's degrees, alongside bachelor's degrees.

He said he found it "a little bizarre and quite embarrassing" that overseas institutions — "our competitors" — are tolerated when they come to the Island to recruit Bermudian students.

The former PLP politician said Bermuda's size should be no impediment to having its own university college.

The prospect of Bermuda College changing status is raised in a ten-year strategic plan drawn up by Dr. Greene. Last night, she outlined various models which would see the college partner with overseas institutions.

One suggestion was that the college become a satellite of the University of the West Indies, an institution to which Bermuda has applied to become a "contributing country" to get discounted fees for students.

Dr. Greene said whatever was decided, it would be vital to ascertain what degrees should be offered and to do an "excellent job" of marketing them to the right people.

College economics lecturer Craig Simmons questioned whether the millions of dollars which would be needed to turn the college into a university would be better spent on scholarships allowing young Bermudians to travel abroad for their studies.