Alberta government to fund 16 new collegiate programs for career preparation
Alberta's education ministry will fund 16 new school collegiate programs to increase opportunities for students looking for an early jump on careers.
Education and Childcare Minister Demetrios Nicolaides says $27.5 million already in this year's budget will fund space modifications, equipment and startup costs for the new programs, which will begin in September.
New collegiates will focus on training in various vocations, including skilled trades, technology, aviation, business and first responders.
"If an individual has a strong passion for a particular area and they know they want to go into that area, let's help accelerate their journey," Nicolaides told CBC News Thursday. "Let's help accelerate their high school programming, their post-secondary programming, and get them into those occupations as quickly as we can."
Nicolaides is announcing the details in a Calgary airport hangar Friday afternoon.
This year's startup funding recipients include Edmonton's public and Catholic school divisions, the Canadian Rockies school division in Banff in southern Alberta, the Northland School Division in northern Alberta and the Medicine Hat public and Catholic school divisions.
A "collegiate school" is a program in the junior- or senior-high grades at a public, Catholic, francophone, charter or private school, that tailors a student's education for a specific career path.
Nicolaides said students must be offered hands-on learning, and connected with post-secondary institutions and employers to either earn some post-secondary credits during their training, or line up prospective work after graduation.
The province now has 12 active collegiate programs, including five that began in fall 2023, according to the Education and Childcare Ministry. The funding announced Friday will also help four existing collegiates to improve their facilities.
The minister received 18 funding applications to start new collegiates, approving 16 of them, ministry press secretary Garrett Koehler said in an email.
The government has also budgeted $8 million, for each of the next two fiscal years, to create more collegiate programs, Koehler said.
Nicolaides said he doesn't have a target number of total programs in mind, as the proposals come from schools and divisions.
The programs are a worthwhile investment because employers in some sectors struggle to find skilled workers, he said.
"We need more young people to enter into particular occupations," he said.
"If we can pair people up and move them through the training process a lot faster, there's significant benefit to the economy and industry," he said.
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