{"id":8095,"date":"2013-11-13T08:50:52","date_gmt":"2013-11-13T16:50:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=8095"},"modified":"2013-11-19T10:37:00","modified_gmt":"2013-11-19T18:37:00","slug":"camosun-receives-349000-in-bc-funding-for-trades-training-courses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2013\/11\/13\/camosun-receives-349000-in-bc-funding-for-trades-training-courses\/","title":{"rendered":"Camosun receives $349,000 in BC funding for trades training courses"},"content":{"rendered":"

The provincial Ministry of Advanced Education recently gave Camosun $349,000 in funding to go towards trades training courses. The money will fund 68 student spaces across three electrical and carpentry programs at the Interurban campus. The money is part of $1.8 million in funding going to 10 different institutions.<\/p>\n

\"Camosun<\/a>
Camosun dean of trades and technology Eric Sehn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Camosun dean of trades and technology Eric Sehn says the funding will go towards foundation programs, which help people get into a trade without having to go the apprentice route.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the Ministry of Advanced Education really saw value in foundation programs, so they stepped up and made a contribution,\u201d says Sehn.<\/p>\n

A portion of the funding will also support a discovery program on a limited pilot basis, providing 32 students with the opportunity to explore different career options in trades. Sehn says that the funding will help get some students off of waitlists for foundation courses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really, really helpful,\u201d says Sehn. \u201cOur foundation programs are very well subscribed. Our heavy-duty mechanic foundation program has a waitlist of a year. So when we receive additional funds, it allows us to add additional intakes. So students who may have been on a waitlist get off that waitlist and into the classroom. It\u2019s really good for the system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Camosun College Student Society external executive Simka Marshall says that it\u2019s a good thing that Camosun got the funding, but says that one-time funding isn\u2019t sustainable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may look like a lot of money, but that\u2019s one-time funding only,\u201d says Marshall. \u201cWe\u2019re focusing on $1.8 million being spread out to 10 institutions; that doesn\u2019t actually equal much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marshall is concerned about programs focusing on short-term labour demands, leaving workers unqualified when the market shifts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe funding is for very specific certificate programs, not fully ticketed tradespeople,\u201d she says.
\n\u201cIf it gets people with minimum skills to fill short-term market demands, that doesn\u2019t give BC families the job security for economic sustainability. It makes us less competitive and lowers the skills of the work force. It\u2019s just the components of what was once an entire holistic trade, and for the economy it\u2019s not sustainable at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sehn says that the foundation programs work well for people who want to get into a trade but may not know people in the industry they\u2019re interested in, or if no apprenticeships are available.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt works really well for someone who doesn\u2019t have a connection to the trades; they\u2019re nicely prepared,\u201d he says. \u201cIt works well particularly when the economy is not as robust as we\u2019d hoped it to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sehn says that the funding can only help bring people into the trades, which, as far as he\u2019s concerned, is a good thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very exciting time for us in trades training,\u201d he says. \u201cSo the more people we can get involved in trades, the more we can be part of a solution and try to help provide the skilled labour for the province of BC.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Sehn, news of funding coming in is always good news.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever we can receive funding to provide more British Columbians an opportunity to get involved in trades and technology, we\u2019re going to enthusiastically receive that,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re happy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The provincial Ministry of Advanced Education recently gave Camosun $349,000 in funding to go towards trades training courses. The money will fund 68 student spaces across three electrical and carpentry programs at the Interurban campus. The money is part of $1.8 million in funding going to 10 different institutions. Camosun dean of trades and technology […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8096,"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":[13,117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-november-13-2013"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8095","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8095"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8183,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8095\/revisions\/8183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}