Collège Boréal, a Sudbury-based bilingual college with locations across Ontario, announced the launch of its online Agricultural Practices program at the 2019 International Plowing Match and Rural Expo on Sept. 18.
The program, an offshoot of the college's two-year Agricultural Techniques program, will start in January 2020.
“I see it every day in our communities and I see it here at the International Plowing Match: the agriculture sector needs more and more trained professionals who can deal with the increasingly technical aspects of crop and livestock farming,” said Daniel Leduc, dean of the school of trades and applied technology and the school of environment and natural resources at Boréal.
The college's agricultural program has been available on a full-time basis for the past three years. It's geared towards students interested in the field and professionals interested in specialization or retraining.
Their online model aims to be more accessible to students, but involves the same requirements as a face-to-face program.
The college describes this new program model as hybrid distance education. There is a practical component which includes meetings with professors and students.
“Accessibility is a key issue and one of our foremost concerns at Collège Boréal,” stated Lyne Michaud, vice-president of education, in a press release. “Now, Boréal's online Agricultural Practices program harmonizes practical learning with a distance education delivery model that is becoming more and more widely used.”
Boréal offers a variety of agricultural and environmental programs, including three customized training programs on cannabis-related trades, including courses on plan cultivation and production equipment management.
Online applications for the online Agricultural Practices program will be accepted tarting Sept. 23.
