A STUDY OF THE GOALS OF THE COLLEGE OF THE BAHAMAS AS PERCEIVED AND PREFERRED BY FACULTY, STUDENTS AND ADMINISTRATORS

The purpose of this study was: (1) to survey a sample of the College of the Bahamas' community as to the nature of the College's goals, as assessed through the Small College Goals Inventory (SCGI), both as they are perceived and as they are preferred; (2) to determine statistical differences among SCGI goal area means for respondents classified by faculty, student, and administrator roles; and (3) to interpret the findings for their implications regarding present and future college planning strategies and/or mission. Six hypotheses tested that there are no significant differences among faculty, students, and administrator respondent groups at the College of the Bahamas regarding importance of Student Growth and Development, Service and Support goals as measured by the SCGI. The Small College Goals Inventory, a five-point Likert-type questionnaire was administered to the 225 participants (202 students, 17 full-time faculty, and six administrators) in January, 1982. This sample-size represented a 16 percent stratified sample of the College's population. The Kruskal-Wallis statistic was utilized in testing the six null hypotheses at the .01 level or better. The return rate of useable questionnaires was 98.4 percent. The Kruskal-Wallis test did not indicate any significant differences among the three study groups, consequently, the following results are based on goal area mean responses for the total of study participants. The goal areas Academic Development, Intellectual Skills, and vocational Preparation currently received the greatest importance, while Cultural/Aesthetic Awareness, Meeting Local Needs, and Religious Orientation received the least importance. Respondent groups preferred the goal areas of Vocational Preparation, Intellectual Skills, and Planning to receive the greatest importance and Religious Orientation, Cultural/Aesthetic Awareness, and Meeting Local Needs to receive the least importance in the future. This study shows that: (1) the emphasis currently given to the goal areas of the College of the Bahamas is reasonably clear to its constituents; (2) a comparison between the College of the Bahamas' stated mission, and the SCGI goal areas study participants feel should receive greatest importance at the College suggests that the two lack congruence.