Cambrian College focus of $4.6 million provincial boon.

• Author: Stewart, Nick
• Position: NEWS

Greater Sudbury's Cambrian College is receiving a $4.6 million injection from the provincial government for library upgrades, technology centre projects and a new energy centre.

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The province will provide $2.6 million to Cambrian College, which will be used to upgrade and refurbish many of the school's various laboratories, shops and facilities. The school's first step in making use of the funding is to transform the school's library into a learning commons. Construction has already begun and is expected to be completed by September 2007.

"Our library really hasn't had any kind of a facelift, other than new computers added every year, since 1978," says Sylvia Barnard, president, Cambrian College. "If you think about what has gone on in education since 1978, there's a world of difference."

Among other features, the new library space will contain a series of seminar rooms. This transformation will place a strong emphasis on encouraging students to work within small groups, a topic which has been repeatedly mentioned by employers in the community as being key for new workers.

"Employers tell us that, when they graduate, students need to understand how they fit within the organization and how they get along with other people," says Barnard. "They need to be able to work as part of a team, and the best way to do that is to put them through that kind of activity That's difficult to do when you have a wide open space where some are trying to study and others are trying to work in groups."

The learning commons will feature more computers, with access to a variety of new databases. While college students of the past relied upon library books, Barnard says the modern student is relying increasingly on such databases as education and research becomes more and more digital.

Located on-site at Cambrian, the Northern Centre for Advanced Technology (NORCAT) also received $2 million "with no strings attached," says Darryl Lake, CEO.

In exchange the province will use them as a model to be used throughout...