{"id":12380,"date":"2016-09-07T09:00:03","date_gmt":"2016-09-07T16:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=12380"},"modified":"2016-09-15T11:09:59","modified_gmt":"2016-09-15T18:09:59","slug":"camosun-college-partners-with-tanzanias-arusha-technical-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2016\/09\/07\/camosun-college-partners-with-tanzanias-arusha-technical-college\/","title":{"rendered":"Camosun College partners with Tanzania\u2019s Arusha Technical College"},"content":{"rendered":"

Camosun College is in the process of developing a Gas Transmission Technician diploma program. The catch? It\u2019s not going to be taught at Camosun.<\/p>\n

Instead, the program will be implemented many time zones away, at Arusha Technical College (ATC) in Tanzania. Camosun chair of Plumbing and Pipe Trades John Gordon says it\u2019s been a great experience to work abroad with academic institutions, but adds that doing so is far from simple or easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you take it over to another country\u2014especially a third world country\u2014they don\u2019t even have shops, really,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s no equipment, there\u2019s no material to work with. We\u2019re heavily engaged in the kinaesthetic learning process here when we get people out there to touch things… Build things, that\u2019s what we do here at Camosun.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Camosun Colllege and Arusha Technical College employees in the shop (photo by Camosun College A\/V Services).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gordon says people in Tanzania can be far less fortunate. The trouble is that programs at Camosun\u2014and in North America, for that matter, says Gordon\u2014are designed in such a way that is dependent on having a relatively high number of tools and resources. This is not the case in countries that don\u2019t have as many resources, says Gordon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey lecture so heavily because they can\u2019t go to the shop,\u201d he says. \u201cThere is no shop. So to transition our program over there, I have to really think about that; I have to really adjust the program to suit the style they have for teaching over there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gordon admits that he\u2019s still working hard figuring out how to do that; even simple things like PowerPoint presentations and learning systems such as D2L presentations are often unavailable at ATC.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they really want is a pre-apprenticeship program similar to what we do here in our foundations program for Pipe Trades,\u201d says Gordon. \u201cWe\u2019re going to name it something to do with oil and gas, but we\u2019re really going to target sort of a general preparation course for entry-level pipe trades people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nicholaus Mhusa is an instructor from ATC who was training at Camosun. He agrees that there are challenges with getting the program together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are working in a different environment,\u201d he says. \u201cCanada is a developed country with a lot of industry; it is possible for one to specialize in one area and get a job. In Tanzania it\u2019s different; we don\u2019t have many industries. Employers want personnel with multiple skills.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gordon says that the process won\u2019t be a quick one, as there will be a lot of work after the program is up and running.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to ensure the program\u2019s aligned with what both governments want, so there will be about a year of follow-up,\u201d says Gordon on what Camosun\u2019s role will be after the program is implemented.<\/p>\n

Camosun College Student Society external executive Rachael Grant says partnering with academic institutions overseas can be a great and helpful endeavour for the college, as long as it doesn\u2019t compromise the education that Camosun students get from the institution.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall it\u2019s a really positive thing,\u201d says Grant. \u201cAs long as investing resources and time in a partnership overseas doesn\u2019t impact the quality of education that Camosun students receive. It adds value to credentials that Camosun students get here. As long as it\u2019s done with integrity, it\u2019s a very positive thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mhusa says that ATC benefits a lot from working with Camosun, and hints that there may be more partnerships between the two in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201c During our instructors\u2019 training at Camosun we observed opportunity for more programs,\u201d he says. \u201cWe are thinking to have certificate programs like lapidary and jewelry in the field of plumbing, pipe and steam fitter and gas fitter. Demand for these programs\u00a0 is high and justifiable, because Tanzania is a resource-rich but skills-poor country, with idling youths.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Camosun College is in the process of developing a Gas Transmission Technician diploma program. The catch? It\u2019s not going to be taught at Camosun. Instead, the program will be implemented many time zones away, at Arusha Technical College (ATC) in Tanzania. Camosun chair of Plumbing and Pipe Trades John Gordon says it\u2019s been a great […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,170],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-september-7-2016"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12380"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12384,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12380\/revisions\/12384"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}