UNBC To Offer Free Training Programs to Some Unemployed

Wednesday, October 21, 2009 03:49 AM

Prince George, B.C.- UNBC is offering free training programs to unemployed workers as part of the Employment Skills Access program funded by the Government of British Columbia.
UNBC will be receiving more than $300 thousand to fund programs aimed at providing training for up to sixty unemployed workers who have not filed an Employment Insurance claim in the past three years.

UNBC was approved for funding to provide three certificate-level courses including:

Occupational Health and Safety
Project Management
Geographic Information Systems

“The program will provide individuals with highly sought-after skills for that can help them gain employment in a variety of industries.” says UNBC Continuing Studies Coordinator Kim Knutsson.

The Minister of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development Moira Stillwell says the finances are to help unemployed British Columbians transition back into the labour force or into further education.

“The Employment Skills Access Program is another example of how the B.C. and federal governments are working together to provide new options for the unemployed, helping them to find and maintain meaningful employment and further educational opportunities,” said Stilwell. “Our public post-secondary institutions are well positioned to provide British Columbians with a full range of training so they can transition to the work force with enhanced skills during this difficult economic period.”

The first course begins November 9 and the application deadline is November 1.

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Posted on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 03:49 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Harbinger on October 21 2009 4:05 PM

Those three courses. Those jobs much in demand? Be specific.

Posted by: Palopu on October 21 2009 6:36 PM

No doubt they will register these workers as students, so that they will then be included in the FTE student count, and then UNBC will get additional funding from the Provincial Government.

Seems like it is moving ahead quite fast with a deadline of November 1st and classes beginning November 9th. Must be an attempt to get these people into the budget process.

Never did hear what the enrolment numbers were for this fall. The new President made some mention of Graduate numbers being up, but that undergraduate numbers were expected to fall. If they can get these 60 unemployed workers as part of the FTE then their numbers would go up.

Who knows. It seems that we mostly get smoke and mirrors, and rarely the truth as to whats going on.

Posted by: Harbinger on October 22 2009 12:27 PM

Geographic Information Systems? Hmmm? Is that pressing a few keys on a computer to get Google earth? Or is it the fine art of explaining to someone how to refold a road map?

Posted by: ccss on October 23 2009 7:16 PM

Enrollment numbers can be found here: http://www.unbc.ca/institutionalresearch/reports/enrolment.html

The numbers are slightly up from last year (07-08 was 3,066.74 FTE to 3,153.17 FTE in the 08-09 Year).

This program is a good start, but most of the unemployed are Forest Workers, who are seasonal workers, so of course they have applied for EI in the off season many times in the past 3 years.