CNC’s Board of Governors met on Friday, June 2 – photo 250News

Prince George, B.C. – College of New Caledonia president Henry Reiser is pleased with the direction his institution is heading.

At CNC’s Board of Governors meeting Friday, the Board received a progress report on year one of its five-year strategic plan with progress noted in the expansion of digital delivery instruction, with the nursing program, in organizational development like the Operational Employee and Performance and in budget and resource allocation.

“We’ve been doing remarkably well,” he said. “What we’re tying to do is ensure that our students are more successful so we’re providing more supports going forward. This is the first time in 16 years that we’re not cutting, we’re actually growing and expanding services and offering new programming.”

Part of that new programming is the return of the Dental Hygiene program next fall (which is expected to be full).

Another area of success this year was a whopping 56 per cent increase in international students.

“It’s a good news story. The numbers are growing and really, it’s all by word of mouth. We’ve had very satisfied students and they’re telling their friends and family and that’s where our growth is coming from.”

Reiser is also pleased with the latest application statistics for next year which reveal an 11 per cent hike CNC wide.

For example, applications are up in Business Administration, Post Diploma HR, and Bachelor of Nursing.

(On the flip side, trades are down 3-5 per cent due to a slowdown in the oil sands. There’s also been a slight decrease in Web and Graphic applications, power engineering and Post Diploma IT).

Moving forward, Reiser says he remains optimistic despite all the uncertainty in Victoria now.

“I’m not concerned. In many respects, all three parties have committed to further investment into education and as we as an educational institution may benefit from that so no, I’m not concerned at all.”