Senate Passes Landmark Bill to Establish Antigua and Barbuda College of Advanced Studies
The Senate has officially passed the Antigua and Barbuda College of Advanced Studies Bill 2025, marking a significant milestone in the country’s push to modernize and unify its tertiary education system.
Senate Majority Leader Shenella Govia, who led the second reading of the bill, hailed it as both historic and transformational. She said the legislation will bring together four key institutions—Antigua State College, the Antigua and Barbuda International Institute of Technology (ABIIT), the Antigua and Barbuda Hospitality Training Institute (ABHTI), and the Harrison Center for Continuing Education—into one consolidated body: the Antigua and Barbuda College of Advanced Studies (ABCAS).
“This is the first time in our country’s history that we are consolidating these institutions into one cohesive body,” Govia told the Senate. “It establishes ABCAS as a centre of excellence, equipping our people with the tools, skills, and values needed for national development.”
Govia emphasized that the amalgamation will help standardize tuition fees and make higher education more affordable, noting that some programmes currently cost as much as $14,000 per semester. She said the bill also introduces a corporate governance model, with a board of trustees representing key national sectors such as tourism, ICT, construction, education, and health.
The legislation outlines a robust administrative structure, including a president, vice president, registrar, bursar, and campus principals. Each existing campus will retain its physical identity but operate under the centralized ABCAS framework.
The bill also establishes an Academic Council and Disciplinary Committee to ensure academic integrity and institutional accountability. A dedicated trust fund will be created to reduce financial reliance on the government’s Consolidated Fund.
“There has been extensive consultation and research since 2017, including the work of a steering board led by Deputy Director of Education Dr. Green,” Govia said. “This is not an idea we just woke up with—this is part of a long-term plan to uplift our youth and education system.”
The bill received full support from the Senate and was passed without amendment. ABCAS is now set to become the new flagship institution for tertiary education in Antigua and Barbuda.
Advertise with the mоѕt vіѕіtеd nеwѕ ѕіtе іn Antigua!
We offer fully customizable and flexible digital marketing packages.
Contact us at [email protected]
Everything passed by this government is landmark.
All of the Special Ecconomic Zones deals are landmark.
The iPad deal was landmark.
The mandatory Covid jab was landmark.
The only thing that is t landmark is investigations into the Odabrecht Scandal.
Investigation into the forging of the prime ministers signature is not landmark
The African transit via Antigua wasn’t landmark.
Any of those are directly related to you Senator????
Much ado about nothing. This is more about government trying to clean up it’s mess by talking about amalgamation of its “tertiary” institutions. Daryl must think that Antiguans and Barbudans are as stupid as he is!!
Understandably, the merging of the ASC and the ABHTI is quite natural and understandable. The inclusion of ABITT would be understandable with the honest admission by Daryll and the current administration that Lester Bird’s vision of an OECS School of Excellence in Technology was a FAILURE. The party was planned, invitations sent out; NOBODY (from the OECS) turned up. Antiguans and Barbudans were therefore made to pay exorbitant fees to cover costs of this pre-university institution. The only problem was that the courses being offered became widely and easily accessible online. So….who needed ABITT?
Youth Skills….well that’s a different cup of tea. In which world can the Youth Skills institution be grouped with the ASC, the ABHTI and ABITT????
Youth Skills???? A learning center that has shown no appreciable growth in the nearly forty years of its existence???? An unsupervised collection of red ants which continues to fail the country in terms of providing the quantity and more importantly the quality of qualified workers to meet our needs., to the extent that we are forced to employ and/or give residence to workers from Guyana, Santo Domingo and Jamaica!!!!
Daryll, your fast talking fat chat might impress your colleagues but the electorate knows better. Re-christening the school “TheHarrison Center ” after some obscure white man in search of a knighthood does not alter the reality.
The proposed College of Advanced Studies sounds good only to the ignorant. Education in Antigua and Barbuda is in dire need of an overhaul by the government , by serious people steeped in Education Reform and Management.
Comments are closed.