Bermuda College Act 1974

[1 July 1974]

[preamble and words of enactment omitted]

Interpretation

1 In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

"Auditor" means the person appointed to the public office of Au ditor established under section 101 of the Constitution;

"Board" means the Board of Governors of the Bermuda College;

"College" means the Bermuda College;

"Minister" means the Minister of Education;

"President" means the president of the College appointed under section 4.

Bermuda College established

2 (1) There shall be established a college with the name of the Bermuda College to provide full and part-time education and training for persons over compulsory school age as defined in the Education Act 1954 [title 12 item 1]:

Provided that the College may admit persons who are under the upper limit of compulsory school age as defined in that Act; so however, that any such person shall not be required to pay the College tuition fee while under the upper limit of that age.

(2) The College shall be a body corporate with perpetual suc cession and a common seal and may sue or be sued in its corporate name.

(3) The College may with the prior approval of the Minister and not otherwise acquire and hold real property of any description and subject to the terms and conditions upon which the same is held, sell, exchange, lease, mortgage, dispose of, turn to account or otherwise deal with such property:

Provided that the College may acquire real property by devise or bequest without the prior approval of the Minister.

(4) The College may acquire and hold personal property, including shares in any company incorporated under the laws of Bermuda.

Board of Governors

3 (1) For the purposes of managing the Bermuda College there shall be established a Board of Governors who shall be constituted in ac cordance with the Schedule; and the incidental provisions of the Sched ule shall apply thereto.

(2) The Board shall have the general management and control of the Bermuda College and for that purpose may —

(a) exercise a general supervision of the affairs, purposes and functions of the College;

(b) subject to subsection (3) of section 2, have the custody, control and disposition of all property, funds, fees and investments of the College;

(f) award and administer bursaries and scholarships whether tenable at the College or elsewhere;

(g) determine courses of study and admission standards;

(h) accept gifts and donations whether of property or other wise and whether subject to any special trust or not for the purposes of the College;

(i) provide pecuniary benefits for the employees of the Col lege on their retirement, resignation, discharge or other termination of service or in the event of their sickness or injury and for their dependents, and for that purpose effect policies of insurance, establish pension and provi dent funds or make such other provision as may be nec essary to secure for such employees and their depen dents any or all of the pecuniary benefits to which the provisions of the paragraph relate;

(j) subject to this Act, do such other things as appear to, them necessary or expedient for furthering the interests of the College.

(3) The Board may, with the prior approval of the Minister but not otherwise —

(a) create such departments within the College as they con sider expedient;

(b) fix fees;

(c) enter into agreements or arrangements on behalf of the College with other institutions of further education (including universities) for the provision of instruction or the granting of degrees, diplomas, certificates and other academic distinctions.

Chief Executive Officer and staff

4 (1) The Board shall, after consultation with the Minister ap point a President who shall be —

(a) a full-time employee of the College;

(b) the principal executive officer of the Board, and in favour of a person dealing with the Board in good faith the President shall be deemed to have delegated to him such of the powers of the Board as are necessary to enable him to transact efficiently the day-to-day business of the College.

(2) The Board may, from time to time, employ such persons as may be necessary for the due performance of the functions of the College upon such terms and conditions as may be determined by the Board.

(3) Public officers and teachers in Government employment may be seconded to the College on such terms and conditions as may be agreed between the Minister and the Board.

(4) If a public officer receiving a pensionable emolument in the public service is seconded to the College the period during which he serves the College shall, for the purposes of computation of time and amount of pension payable to him in respect of his service as a public officer, be deemed to be service in a pensionable office.

(5) The Minister may require the Board to pay into the Consoli dated Fund such amounts as he may determine to reimburse the Gov ernment in respect of pensions payable by the Government to public offi cers who have been seconded to the College under this section.

Audit

5 (1) The Board shall cause proper accounts of the financial af fairs of the College to be maintained.

(2) The accounts of the College shall be audited annually by the Auditor or an auditor appointed by him who shall report the result of his examination of the accounts of the College to the Minister.

Minister may give directions to Board

6 The Minister may, after consultation with the Board, give such general directions as to the policy to be followed by the Board in the performance of their functions as appear to the Minister to be desirable and the Board shall give effect to any such directions.

Board may make rules and by-laws

7 (1) The Board may, with the prior approval of the Minister, make rules for —

(a) the administration of the College;

(b) the appointment, election, resignation, retirement and removal of officers and staff;

(d) the conferring of diplomas, certificates and other aca demic distinctions;

(e) the establishment of advisory boards;

(f) financial procedure;

(g) the admission of students;

(h) the conduct of students and staff;

(i) the discipline of students;

(j) generally, the carrying into effect of this Act.

(2) The Board may make by-laws —

(a) regulating their proceedings, including the quorum;

(b) delegating their functions to a committee or officer thereof.

(3) The negative resolution procedure shall apply to rules and by-laws made under this section.

Annual report

8 (1) The Board shall, as soon as practicable, and in any case not later than four months after the close of their accounting year, submit an annual report to the Minister on the activities of the College.

(2) The Minister shall as soon as practicable after receiving the report of the Board, lay such report before both Houses of the Legisla ture.

Land tax exemption; employment tax exemption

9 All property, real or personal, appertaining to the College shall be exempted from land tax and other taxes of a like nature, and the College shall also be exempted from employment tax.

Amendments

10 [omitted.]

Commencement

11 [omitted.]

[this Act was brought into operation on 22 July 1974 by GN 288/1974]

SCHEDULE

1 The Board shall consist of a Chairman, Deputy Chairman and not more than twelve other members appointed by the Minister and ev ery member of the Board shall hold office for such time as may be speci fied in his appointment.

2 The Chief Education Officer in the Ministry of Education and the Chairman of the Apprenticeship Training Council shall be ex officio members of the Board.

3 Any person ceasing to be a member of the Board shall be eligible for re-appointment.

4 If a member of the Board becomes, in the opinion of the Minis ter, unfit to continue in office or incapable of performing his duties, the Minister shall forthwith declare his office vacant, and shall notify the fact in such manner as the Minister thinks fit, and thereupon the office shall become vacant; and the Minister may, in like manner declare the office of a member of the Board vacant if he fails, without adequate cause, to at tend three successive meetings thereof.

5 A member of the Board may resign his office at any time by no tice in writing given to the Minister.

6 The powers of the Board may be exercised notwithstanding any vacancy in their number.

7 Members of the Board shall be paid such fees and allowances out of the funds of the College as the Board may, with the approval of the Minister, determine.

8 The President of the College shall attend their meetings and be their secretary.

[Amended by
1977 : 35
1982 : 74 ]

Bermuda Consolidated Legislation

Bermuda College Act 1974