News Briefs: January 8, 2024 issue

January 8, 2024 News
This story originally appeared in our January 8, 2024 issue.

Symposium celebrates student work

The year-end Capstone symposium for graduating Camosun College Electronics and Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering technology students took place on Friday, December 15. Some of the projects on display included a smart sunscreen dispensing solution, a modern control system for church bells, and a parking app that locates empty parking stalls. The symposium was hosted at the Centre for Trades Education and Innovation at Camosun’s Interurban campus. 

Changes to requirements for international students

Minister of immigration, refugees, and citizenship Mac Miller recently announced that due to inflation, the low-income cut off (LICO) has been raised for international students to better prepare them for life in Canada. Beginning on January 1, single applicants will have to show that they have $20,635 in addition to their first year of tuition and travel costs. The cost-of-living requirement was originally capped at $10,000, an amount that hasn’t changed since “the early 2000s,” according to a press release. The updated LICO was also made in hopes to protect international students from exploitation. Additionally, Miller announced that the 20-hour-per-week limit on the number of hours international students are allowed to work has been lifted until April 30, 2024—initially, it was set to expire on December 31, 2023.

Camosun building gets awarded

The winners of the 2023 Capital Region Commercial Building Awards were announced on Thursday, November 23 at the Delta Ocean Pointe Resort, and a building at Camosun came out victorious. The Dental Building, which finished renovations in 2022, got the Renovations and Tenant Improvements Award. Zeidler Architecture was the architect/designer and Heatherbrae Builders was the general contractor for the renovations. The Dental Building is located at Camosun’s Lansdowne campus.

College gets two new board members

On Monday, December 18, Camosun College announced the addition of two new members to its board of directors. Jeremy Burgess and Shane Hartman were both appointed by the lieutenant governor for terms beginning on December 1, 2023 and ending on July 31, 2025. Burgess practices corporate commercial litigation as a litigation associate with Reed Pope Law Corporation; Hartman is an artist and author and has a registered non-profit that helps Indigenous youth gain access to golf and learn about employment and educational resources that are available for them.