Camosun College will begin reopening its Continuing Education (CE) programming in September. CE at Camosun was put on hold in June of last year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Camosun vice president of partnerships Geoff Wilmshurst says that the college has to make sure there are strong enrolment numbers for the programming because CE gets no provincial or base funding.
“The slow reopening is really starting in September,” says Wilmshurst. “And slowly building up from there. We have to make sure that whatever we do is profitable.”
There’s no particular number for enrolment projections in CE post-COVID, but Wilmshurst says that acting director of Continuing Education and Contract Training Jennifer Stone has put forth a plan with a focus on courses that have been successful in the past, micro-credentials, and niche courses.
“[This includes] courses that we knew have worked out well in the past, and then kind of fit into the new format that we want to be going forward,” says Wilmshurst. “So probably less general interest and more specific to the needs of professionals in the community.”
As an example, Wilmshurst compares a Photography 101 course to a course on electric vehicle maintenance, which is a focus in Continuing Education; he says that while a 100-level course helps you to gain skills, it’s often not specific enough for many employers.
“[We’ll focus on] the kinds of things that you would build upon that would have a very particular learning outcome that are going to help you in your career,” says Wilmshurst.
In June of last year, the college said less than 50 positions would be impacted by the department’s closure. Wilmshurst says the college is following re-hiring protocol with CUPE Local 2081 and the Camosun College Faculty Association.
“We have a layoff process and a return process that we work through with the unions,” says Wilmshurst. “When we have an opening, we obviously go through the formal process of bringing people back and work closely with both those unions.”
As one of three post-secondary institutions in the community, Camosun has a long history in Continuing Education.
“We do think it’s important that we play an important role in that, and certainly, as an access institution, that’s something that we’re spending a lot of time studying in terms of, ‘Okay, what is it that people in the community are wanting?’ and, equally importantly, ‘What is it that industry is wanting?’ We know there are gaps. And these are the gaps that we’d like Camosun to fill.”
Wilmshurst says one of those gaps in in the film industry. (Camosun is in the process of exploring the possibility of a film studio at Interurban.)
“The film industry is telling us there aren’t enough people who can do production assistant work; there are not enough people who can do hair and makeup specifically for film,” he says. “Those are some examples. In the marine industry, similarly—we have a super welding program at Camosun, but what we don’t have is enough people trained specifically for the marine sector.”
The college has an electric vehicle maintenance program, but there are specific updates that need to happen for students fairly regularly, says Wilmshurst, because the industry is changing so rapidly. This can be done through CE.
“Because it’s changing so rapidly, we need to provide upgrading training in electric vehicles that would be shorter and sharper, and would meet specific needs of the industry,” he says.
Wilmshurst says the focus for CE’s future is on what students and employers want.
“People don’t want to spend weeks and months studying something that may or may not lead to a job enhancement or a new job; what they’re looking for are opportunities to get specific skills that are going to lead them to that.”