The start date for the fall trimester at the Bahamas Institute of Business & Technology this year is August 26th and
according to President Forbes, freshman class enrollment is expected to be the strongest since the easing of pandemic.
While the majority of the new enrollees resides in New Providence, this year’s class is made up of students from
across the The Bahamas; Andros, Abaco, Eleuthera, Exuma are all well represented in this year’s student body.
Like students in previous years, this freshman class boasts students with a broad cross section of interest but
programs in the fields of healthcare and business are experiencing the heaviest influx of new students. BIBT is one
of the only local colleges that offers short certificate courses, international certification courses and degree
programs in healthcare covering areas such as clinical medical assisting, administrative medical assisting,
healthcare administration, phlebotomy technician, EKG technician and pharmacy technician.
Denovia Smith a freshman form New Providence said she enrolled in the healthcare program because of the
increasing number of career opportunities in the field and given that she is able to complete her training program
in a short period of time. She is studying clinical medical Assisting.
Mandy Major another freshman from Cat Island graduated from Arthur’s Town High School. She is pursuing
studies in business and wishes to work in the field of management. Business is one of BIBT’s largest schools with current
enrollment of over one hundred students. This year it is expected that enrollment for studies in this discipline will
once again attract a large number of applicants. Certificate, associate degrees and bachelor degree programs are
available in Accounting, Banking & Finance, Business Administration, Human Resource Management and Marketing
Management.
Mandy Major While business and healthcare lead the way in freshman enrollment it should be noted that the college
offers a wide array of other career-oriented programs of study in law, criminal justice, teacher education, computers
science and information technology. Alessia Ferguson is a member of the freshman class. She is starting studies this
fall and is enrolled in the computer networking associate degree program at our Nassau campus. She likes working
with computers and hopes to become a network administrator once she completes her studies.
It is also notable that enrollment at the Freeport campus of BIBT has similarly shown an increase
in the number of students. Although the college is continuing its transition back to face-to-face
classes, students seem to have become accustomed to online learning and show some preference for that
mode of delivery. Like students at the Nassau campus, students in Freeport have both online and face-to-face
options available to them for certificate courses, associate degree programs and bachelor degree programs.
Allied health and business are likewise popular career choices at BIBT’s Freeport campus. Tavenae Sweeting and Shaquel
Thomas are members of the 2024 freshman class at the Freeport campus. They will be studying business and early
childhood education respectively.
Almost 100% of the students in this year’s freshman class are recipients of BIBT’s in house scholarship assistance program.
This program awards eligible students up to $450 per term towards their tuition. In select cases, scholarship awards of $900 were
granted. A small percentage of students also benefits from the Government’s National Tuition Assistance program. This program
awards $4000 a year to successful applicants towards their tuition. Given that a majority of the student population is
newly out of high school, these scholarships helps to make attending college more affordable for our students.President Forbes
said that he is encouraged by the size of the freshman class this year. This class is poised to be the largest since the Covid-19
protocols were relaxed. Last year the college began transitioning back to in-person classes. During the pandemic all classes
were held online and students were forced to complete classes virtually. According to the President a larger number of classes
are available in person which is the preferred mode of delivery for Bahamians. The Bahamas Institute of Business & Technology
was established in 2009 following the dissolution of Success Training College. It has campuses in Nassau and Freeport and
offers both in-person and online courses. Certificates, associate degrees and bachelor degrees in business, computers, teacher
education, law and criminal justice are available. For more information log onto our website www.bibtbahamas.com