Education/training
An interview with John Tibbits, President, Conestoga CollegeWe also have the Woodworking Centre of Ontario, to train students in woodworking manufacturing. |
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 [ 2002-04-17 ] |
Q.What are some of the most popular programs at Conestoga?
A.We're big in three principle areas. The first is engineering technology and the trades -- we have one of the biggest programs of any college in Ontario. We're a mid-sized college, and of the 5,000 full-time students we have, 2,500 students are studying in this field. We tend to focus on engineering technology, specifically in the advanced manufacturing area.
We're very big on robotics, animation, telecommunications, computer technology -- this area has a very large percentage of workers in advanced manufacturing, and there's a lot of room for these jobs in the marketplace.
We also have the Woodworking Centre of Ontario, to train students in woodworking manufacturing. That's a big area and it matches what's happening in society.
We also have a wide range of programs in the health sciences. For example, we have a joint nursing degree with McMaster University. Our health sciences programs include paramedics, practical nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and much more.
Our application rate this year compared to last year was up 20%, and in the health sciences it was up 40%. These programs are extremely popular right now. We have a paramedic program with 30 spaces, and this year we had over 1,100 applications for the program.
Another major area is business and information technology, which includes everything from management studies to marketing to accounting to office administration -- altogether there's about 15 programs.
Q.How do you ensure the school has enough of the most up-to-date technology for students to use?
A.As a college, we have developed some of the best community partnerships in the province. One of the problems with being a major engineering and trade school is with something like robotics and machining, the range of equipment you need is phenomenal, and there's no way we could keep up to date with government grants alone.
We have partnerships with numerous companies in the area. For example, we have one with a company called ATS, which stands for Automation Tooling Systems, based in Cambridge. They have given us millions of dollars, and in turn, we meet their needs by expanding the skills of the people they hire.
We haven't gone out and done general fundraising in 10 years. Our approach to meet our needs for equipment and upgrading is through partnerships and value propositions. It's mutually beneficial, and companies are really open to that.
Q.What kind of employment opportunities can a Conestoga graduate expect?
A.The Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) indicate one of the areas we're strongest in is job placement -- 92% of our grads find work in their field.
There are tremendous opportunities in health care, for example. We are developing a cardiology centre at one hospital, and an ontology centre at another, and our students will be able to benefit from them.
There are also lots of opportunities for nurses and medical technicians.
In insurance, we have Manulife here and Clarica, so there's a lot of opportunities in the financial services field.
In the manufacturing area, there are tremendous opportunities. This area did not take the hit that Ottawa took with Nortel, and what the rest of North America took when the IT bubble burst. It didn't happen here. Many IT firms are still here and still hiring.
Q.What's down the road for the school?
A.We were just granted two degree programs, one of which is in computer engineering and telecommunications, which starts in the fall of 2003, and will be a four year co-op program.
The other one is in integrated advanced manufacturing, in the area of robotics. We're submitting two more proposals for engineering technology in May.
We'll also have a new, two-year advertising program in the fall, and we already have 500 applications for the 30 available spaces.
There will be a new electrical engineering technology program in the fall, and we are also modifying our welding program into a new program called welding, engineering and robotics.
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