New UNBC Program Aims to Fill Skills Gap
Prince George, B.C. – UNBC is set to launch a new program it says will connect prospective students with local employers.
Under the terms of the Advanced Employment Skills Certificate program, employers will pay the full tuition and living expenses for students during the academic year starting this fall.
Students will work at the sponsoring business during the school year and again during a paid work term in the summer when they are not attending classes.
“UNBC recognized a need from employers to attract, train, and retain workers in traditionally hard-to-fill positions. The Advanced Employment Skills Certificate will give employers opportunities to fill those jobs,” says UNBC Business Development Officer Garth Frizzell.
The two-year certificate will combine a mixture of for-credit undergraduate courses as well as certificate-level Continuing Studies programs.
Once complete, students will earn 30 undergraduate course credits they can apply to a degree if they wish to continue their studies.
The Exploration Place museum is one of the first organizations to sign up for the program.
“This fall we need two new staff in our curatorial department and the students this program promises to attract will fit those needs,” says CEO Tracy Calogheros. “The Exploration Place is excited to be one of the first cohort of employers benefiting from the program.”
For more information on the program click here.
Comments
Already know of one employer who plans on using this program after he gets rid of his just unionized employees..
when did the university become a a vocational college?
Is this not something that the vocational college called cnc should be involved with?
I have noticed that unbc has been such a success that they have been sniping students and programs from the pre-existing college.
It’s interesting that a non-profit charity like Exploration Place can afford to put someone through school.
Having been a student at UNBC i can say this is good step and will add more value and credibilty to UNBC’s programs. Alot of UNBC’s programs arent recognized by employers, professional associations and standards associations. If i could stress anything to prospective students of UNBC make sure you check with your prospecive industry/employer or standards accociation to make sure the program is recognized.
northman, good point
The Exploration Place IS a charity and this program will bring us two full time staff members for a cost just below minumum wage over two years. The students wind up with tuition and accomodations covered. Seems like a win all the way around to me. It gives us two years with these students so we’ll have the time to train them in curatorial practice and it gives them the time to explore this field as a potential career. I’m pretty excited about the program because we, like every other Museum on the planet, have a backlog in collections that would take many staff, many years, to finish researching and documenting. It’s a pilot program, here’s hoping it works!
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