Aviation, forestry focus of alliance.

• Author: Muir, Ross
• Position: Brief Article

"Education that works" is the motto at Confederation College, an institution that prides itself on providing integrated education to its students to create industry-ready graduates. However, staff at the Thunder Bay campus hope its forestry and aviation programs will be even more enhanced with the introduction this fall of its Alliance of Excellence.

Ian McCormack, the college's vice-president of community development and innovation, describes the Alliance of Excellence as "a strategic partnership" between Confederation College, the province (and hopefully other levels of government), business and industry. The alliance is the theme of the college's $15-million fundraising campaign, which has already received $4 million from the province's SuperBuild fund; Confederation College has also raised $500,000 to jumpstart the campaign.

The Alliance of Excellence is the result of studies by the college, Development Thunder Bay and the aviation and forestry sectors.

"We recognized areas of training that needed to be fleshed out," explains Nancy Creighton, the manager of Development Thunder Bay. "The alliance takes it to the next level. We're supportive of the program and recognize its value to the community and the two industry sectors."

However, she notes that the city has not been asked for a financial contribution at this juncture.

The proposed Aviation Centre of Excellence is slated to get the bulk of funding, a full two-thirds of it. With the $10 million Confederation hopes to raise for the Aviation :Centre of Excellence, the college plans to build a 58,000-square-foot facility at Thunder Bay International Airport, which will eventually be able to house 350 fulltime students.

The new facility, whose design has been created with Confederation's partners in the aviation industry, will permit the consolidation of all three of the college's aviation programs - flight management, aircraft maintenance, and aviation manufacturing engineering technology - under one roof. Currently, the technology program is offered at the Thunder Bay campus, while the other two are offered at the airport. Once built, the Aviation Centre of Excellence will provide students with new state-of-the-art technology, both on the ground and on board the college's aircraft.

Unlike the Aviation Centre of Excellence, Confederation College's Forestry Centre...