Community consultations: Canadore College responds to industry needs.

• Author: Cowan, Liz
• Position: DESIGN-BUILD - Canadore College of Allied Arts and Technology

Fuollowing a pent-up demand over the past few years for specific graduates, Canadore College in North Bay has responded by offering a new program.Civil engineering technician, offered in the fall of 2011, is a two-year course that is filling a requirement requested by some industries.

For Tracie Marsh-Fior, dean of Canadore's Commerce Court campus, civil engineering technician offers a specific core program that those in the mining, transportation and construction industries have been looking for.

"Prior to me coming to the college, I worked on a contract for the North Bay Economic Department which was undergoing a business retention and expansion survey of local businesses and companies," she said.

It was there she got a sense of what the needs of the business community were and what was preventing them from growing and expanding.She was sometimes told of the need for skilled employees.

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"When I started at the college, one of my roles was to be involved with the local branch of the Canadian Institute of Mining and the need for engineering employees was stressed over and over again," Marsh-Fior said.

Numerous community consultations were held with representatives from the mining, transportation and construction industries.

"We flushed out what they were looking for," she said. "It wasn't mining engineers but there were certain key things they all wanted which was a strong, core program and they could train the graduates to suit their industries."

All three industries wanted skills that included. computer-aided design (CAD) and some technical expertise. When the program was developed, the community involvement from the industries continued.

"They were very much involved," Marsh-Fior said. "From that involvement we flushed out what the program would look like and then we got through the internal approvals and it was launched."

In addition to CAD, the students learn project management, applied strength of materials, surveying and GPS, highway/ road design and planning and design and construction of infrastructure.

Despite hitting the cycle of recruitment late, in April of 2011, enrolment exceeded expectations.

"Coming on board in the spring is truly late to start something in the fall," she said. "We thought if we...