With a growing need for skilled tradespeople, Northern College’s newly unveiled $17.3-million Centre for Excellence in Trades and Technology in Timmins will position it well for “years to come,” says president Fred Gibbons.
With the rate of retirement in Canadian trades leading to a sharp demand for new blood, the Oct. 27 official opening of the college’s new 33,000-square-foot site is a “timely” way to feed industry’s appetite for graduates.
“This need is becoming ever more paramount, and with this, Northern College is positioned well as a provider of talented people,” says Gibbons.
“This centre will continue to increase enrolment, and increase our profile in the communities that we serve through our various programs.”
Interest in Northern College as a pathway to trades has spiked even before the centre was built. In 2009, the college saw a record 47-per-cent growth in first-year enrolment. This year, enrolment has increased 13 per cent.
This brings the school’s enrolment close to levels unseen since it ceased being a bilingual school in 1995.
This rise is attributed to Northern’s status as an important partner in training and development, a status that will be further enhanced by the new facility located at its Porcupine campus, says Gibbons.
As an example, the school was named the “trainer of choice” for delivering a variety of trade skills for Aboriginals set to work at De Beers Canada’s Victor Mine, the province’s first diamond mine. It also continues to work with First Nations and mining firms on related training efforts.
This is the kind of momentum and experience that officials hope to capture with the new, expansive facility as opportunities continue to arise throughout the region. In particular, the potentially world-class chromite deposit in the Ring of Fire in the James Bay lowlands stands to transform the North.
To this end, Northern College will seek to develop new programs, something the new facility will also assist with, says Gibbons.
It has already allowed for several new two-year apprenticeship programs, including millwright, heavy duty equipment mechanic, mechanical engineering technician, and carpentry.
To tap into the burgeoning trend of “green jobs,” a new alternative energy technician program is slated to begin in the fall of 2011. With new industrial science labs, as well as lecture theatres, boardrooms, and student common areas, the facility provides room for an additional 120 students.
It will also require the addition of five more staff positions, three of which have already been filled.
Although students have been making use of the new site since September, the facility still has some work left before being fully complete. Through the coming evenings and weekends, the installation of equipment will continue, with a particular focus on putting the finishing touches on the much-touted next-generation video conferencing systems.
Representing a $4-million investment, this high-tech two-way video system will allow the school to deliver courses interactively to its far-flung Moosonee campus.
“It can be hard to find licensed tradespeople to teach on the coast, and we’ve had to fly instructors up there in the past,” says Gibbons. “This will allow us, as a first step, to teach students via video, and then hire local tradesworkers to reinforce the techniques and theories the students are learning.”
A mid-October visit to the Moosonee site by Gibbons showed that preparatory work was continuing as planned. Installation efforts are progressing to the point where the location will be able to start offering a preparatory pre-trades program in January.
The new centre will also allow the school to work more closely with Northern College’s other regional campuses, including its location in Kirkland Lake.
