Nexus<\/em>).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u201cWe talk about all kinds of topics,\u201d says Bell. \u201cSometimes we\u2019ll share best practices, or what our college is working on, so other people can learn from it. Sometimes we\u2019ll have guest speakers from industry or the government come in to speak to the group of presidents, and we will look at common topics, things that we are all working on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bell says that the topics at these meetings vary but the themes are consistent with current issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of these examples, for instance, could be Indigenization, or co-op, or work-integrated learning,\u201d says Bell. \u201cI think we always have to be looking at the alignment with the ministry. One of the priorities of government is Indigenization, or looking at ensuring truth and reconciliation takes place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bell says that Camosun has been working on Indigenization since the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada came out, and that work is an example of something the BC Colleges board discussed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cLast year all of the presidents got together for a half day and shared what we were doing,\u201d she says. \u201cSo that is an example of colleges working together, sharing their experiences as a way to work with each other.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nWork-integrated learning is another area that Bell and the board have been collaborating on.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWork-integrated learning is making sure that students have opportunities to be placed in either internships or co-ops so that as part of their learning they\u2019ll get to work in a field that they\u2019re interested in,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Bell believes that \u201cbeing nimble\u201d is one of the most important things for a college to strive for.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the advantages that colleges have over universities is that we can react very quickly to the needs of the community,\u201d she says. \u201cFor example, right now there is a really high demand for health-care assistants. So, what we are able to do is provide\u2014if we have the funding\u2014these courses on Salt Spring Island; we can provide in Indigenous communities; we can provide on the West Shore. So, we can react pretty quickly. We can take current programs and be very quick to respond to industry and government needs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bell says that although the college tries to have a quick-to-respond approach, the results are still not simple. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cOur process to have curriculum approved is a rigorous process, but it doesn\u2019t take years to do,\u201d she says. \u201cColleges are able to shift gears when we need to, just because of the nature of what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bell says that, above all, the most important job she does is being president of Camosun, but being out there working provincially with BC Colleges really helps.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s not an onerous task. I get to be involved in meetings, as well as different projects with BC Colleges. I am always learning, and bringing ideas back to the college, as well as sharing some of the amazing things that we do here. I may have a lot to do,\u201d she says with a laugh, \u201cbut I really love it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Camosun College president Sherri Bell was appointed BC Colleges board chair on November 21, 2019. BC Colleges is a Victoria-based organization that represents 10 BC colleges; presidents from each institution meet regularly to go over common priorities and issues. Those presidents make up the BC Colleges board. \u201cThe role, basically, is that we work really […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18832,"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":[13,245],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-january-6-2020"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18766","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=18766"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18768,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18766\/revisions\/18768"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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