News

What's New at BC Colleges May 2015

A message from Jim Reed, President of BC Colleges

Welcome to the May edition of What's New at BC Colleges. The summer term may be upon us, but our college system is as busy as ever.

Okanagan College is preparing to launch a new Arts Experience (ArtsX) program designed by faculty to provide an avant-garde learning option for the two-year university-transferable Associate of Arts Degree. This new program will have an emphasis on collaborative teaching and learning, multi-disciplinary courses, alternative grading, and beyond-the-classroom education.

At North Island College a historic Indigenous Education Protocolwas signed earlier this month that provides a vision of how the college will strive to improve and better serve Indigenous peoples. This is particularly significant to NIC as the region is home to 35 First Nations of the Coast Salish, Kwakwak’wakw and Nuu-chah-nulth traditions, many of whom live in remote areas accessible only by water and air.

And our colleges continue to work hard to engage with future students. A good example of this type of engagement is Selkirk Colleges' Made for Trades day that welcomed over 200 high school students with tours and workshops designed to introduce them to potential studies and careers in trades.

In the coming weeks BC's college Presidents will participate in a strategy session to chart our priorities for the coming years. We will be focussing on how we as a system can effectively respond to the growing need for graduates with advanced skills to fill the one million job openings expected by 2022, of which 43 per cent will require trades or technical training.

Read on to learn more about the milestones, projects, collaborations and announcements from our 10  member colleges during the past month.

For a full list of this month's news, please check out  "In the News" on the BC Colleges website. As always, I welcome your feedback, you can reach me by e-mail.

Sincerely,
Jim Reed, President BC Colleges

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