Sign up for the paNOW newsletter

‘Hands-on approach’ entices students

Nov 24, 2017 | 7:00 AM

Enrolment at Saskatchewan Polytechnic is on an upward trend. According to statistics, the school has experienced a 24 per cent increase in program enrolments in the past five academic years with just over 20,000 admissions.

Students at the Prince Albert campus said the small class sizes and hands-on approach are enticing.

“Our class has an amalgamation of people from Saskatoon, Regina and Ontario and they all like the inclusiveness,” student Alexander Benmerrouche said. “We get our hands on everything and to my knowledge there isn’t a similar program that is as hands-on as this one.”

Benmerrouche, who has a Bachelors Degree from the University of Saskatchewan, enrolled in the Geographic Information Science certificate program at the Prince Albert campus to stay on top of industry standards. Classmate Shannon Munroe said it’s the only course of its kind offered in Saskatchewan.

“All of the equipment we have is up to date and what the industry uses… so it definitely gives us an advantage,” Munroe said. “The advantage here is the focus on personal success rather than just getting through the course… thanks to smaller class sizes.”

                                                         

Whether it’s a 3-D printer for Interactive Design and Technology students, or a mannequin for students learning to become hairstylists, Saskatchewan Polytechnic embraces simulation training. Students in the School of Human Services and Community Safety actually work in a spa on campus that is open to the general public. Students like Kaylyn Ballantyne have the opportunity to practice their craft while offering services at a significant saving to the client.

“It doesn’t feel like school at all,” Ballantyne said. “We can do cuts for $10 and colors starting at $21.”

Even the cuts of meat from students within the Retail Meat Specialist program are sold to the public at a meat counter within the school’s cafeteria.

More than 2,000 students and over 200 employees make up the Saskatchewan Polytechnic Prince Abert campus. It offers 53 programs within 10 different schools including Nursing, Construction and Information and Communications Technology. There is one downfall to the increased interest in programming; in 2015-16, of the nearly 9,000 applications that were asessed as qualified for admission, more than one quarter of the applicants could not be offered admission due to seat capacity limits within specific programs.

The school said that ratio has been consistent over the past three years within its high demand programs. A report on application, enrolment and graduate trends on the school’s website said ‘approximately 40 to 80 per cent of qualified applications (Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Dental Hygiene, Medical Radiologic Technology, Practical Nursing, Powering Engineering, and Psychiatric Nursing) are turned away. Of the students who do graduate, 92 per cent of Saskatchewan Polytechnic student find employment within six months. 

 

panews@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @princealbertnow