President of The College of The Bahamas Dr. Rodney Smith said on Monday that he does not think the 2015 university transition date is overly ambitious despite the amount of internal and external work to be completed on the college.

"What a lot of people need to understand is transition to university takes a while," Smith said.

"It doesn't happen overnight.

"You have to begin by actually declaring the charter day for the university; that's the beginning and then you build the university from there." Although he was unable to give an exact month when the college is expected to officially transition, Smith said that the government has to determine the charter day.

The college was expected to transition by July of this year.

Last year, the government borrowed $16.18 million from the Caribbean Development Bank for the college's transition to university status.

Smith further explained that the college is currently trying to secure a financial sustainability model that does not depend on government subvention and does not include immediate tuition increase. He outlined several actions the college is taking to quicken its transition to university status.

"We are getting ready to completely renovate [the Portia Smith Building] and reoccupy it again," Smith said.

"We are finishing the Franklyn Wilson Building which will be completed by the end of this year and occupied by the end of the year.

"Within the next couple of weeks we are going to break ground with regards to the Campbell Small Island Sustainability Research Centre.

"We are also in the process of receiving bids for residential halls on this campus (Oakes Field), that will be coming in the next couple weeks as well."

Smith said the college is making changes to its administrative structure, trying to fill nine senior positions. He said the University of The Bahamas draft bill is about 98 percent complete and almost ready to be submitted to the college's council for approval.

"In looking at the University of The Bahamas draft bill, one of the key components is making sure that the draft bill covered a lot of the accreditation core requirements," Smith said. "So this particular bill not only helps us transition into a university, but also covers the government's core requirements for the University of The Bahamas for our accreditation purposes, which will begin almost immediately as well."

He said although the college has a lot of work to do in its transition to university, a lot of work is being done behind the scenes.

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