Back to the books

Students began returning to the halls of the Port aux Basques College of the North Atlantic campus last week to register for courses.

Campus administrator Jan Peddle expects those hallways will be busy throughout the school year with the possibility of more than 200 students at the campus at certain times.

That's a lot for a building that normally houses about 125 to 130 students. In fact, Mr. Peddle said the college will have to find some external classroom space as there simply isn't enough room in the current building for everyone.

The college will tender for the provision of space off campus to hold a couple programs.

"It's just lining up to be an incredible year," said Mr. Peddle. He said the last time the campus saw this much training at once was likely during the TAGS era after the moratorium.

Several of the courses offered at the campus are already full, including non-destructive testing (NDT), welding and fabrication, office administration and adult basic education.

The cabinet making and business administration courses are about half full.

Mr. Peddle said enrollment in business administration tends to cycle up and down, but the instructors are kept busy with online students. He said the vacant spots also allows local people interested in doing one of the pieces, such as computers or marketing, to come to enroll at the campus during the days.

The campus is also busy with some additional courses started to address specific needs, such as the personal care attendant and marine hospitality programs, and the targeted initiative for older workers.

Mr. Peddle said the campus is also hoping to offer another bridgewatch course sometime this year and heavy equipment training in the spring. The campus will also offer the final block of training in the red seal program in welding and hopes to do a red seal block in fabrications as well.

Effects

All the activity means employment at the campus is up by a couple of full-time equivalent positions to about 30 people.

About 15 per cent of students at the campus are from outside the southwest coast. Mr. Peddle said the challenge of finding suitable housing is already impacting some students.

Most students at the campus are mature learners who have been in the workforce or done other post-secondary training. Only about 15 per cent of students come straight out of high school.

Mr. Peddle said he thinks that's partly because younger people generally want to follow their friends to institutions further from home and explore the world.

Possible expansion

Plans for expansion have been on the campus' radar for some time. The plans were based on new space for the NDT program, but would have meant more room for other programs as well.

However, they were put on hold due to some staff changeover in the NDT program

Mr. Peddle said they want to wait and make sure the department is still strong and allow the new staff member time to settle in before moving ahead with expansion plans.

He said that given the increasing number of courses being offered at the campus and the increasing number of students, they may need a new expansion plan based on those factors.

Mr. Peddle added there are a lot of investments being made in the campus as it now stands. He said thousands of dollars in new and updated equipment has been purchased for the cabinet making, welding and NDT programs over the last year or two.

As well, the building is undergoing a $750,000 upgrade to the electrical and mechanical systems.

It's a far cry from only five or six years ago when the small rural college campuses were fighting to stay alive, said Mr. Peddle.

editor@gulfnews.ca