THUNDER BAY - Students at Confederation College are expressing frustration after learning they will not be able to continue their programs due to limits on class sizes set by the province.
Limits have been set to 10 students for in-person learning and labs in most programs for the cohort scheduled to begin on Jan. 11. The limitations apply to apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship training and essentially all programs at the college with the exception of health care programs.
The limits were part of the province-wide lockdown and have left some students wondering when they can finish their programs.
According to Neil Cooke, vice president of academics with Confederation College, administration learned of the new limitations late last week.
“We will be working closely with the Ministry as the days and weeks move forward to try and look at how we might be able to optimize our schedule for upcoming subsequent levels to see how we might be able to get these students back in as soon as possible,” he said.
“It’s not necessarily all within the confines of our control, but we will be doing as much as we can to work with the Ministry to see if other options exist and if we can move these students through a little quicker.”
Cooke added the college was unable to offer any alternative forms of learning such as splitting classes or extending the academic year.
“We did explore all options. If we were able to make that accommodation, we would have,” he said.
“Given the context of the curriculum that they have to deal with and the lab size, that was not the option we had for any of the face to face or hands on activities, as the majority is done in the labs. All of our theory is delivered online, so that is already taken care of. There really wasn’t an option for us at this point in time.”
One of the programs affected is the millwright apprenticeship, where four students were told they will not be continuing at this time.
The students selected to continue in the program in January were chosen based on time of registration and tuition payment, with those whose registration was received first being given a spot.
But for some students who are already working, finding time to complete their apprenticeships may not be possible later on if time is not available.
Confederation College administration say they understand the frustration and stress this is causing some students, but the situation is not unique to Northern Ontario.
“I think a lot of the employers across the province are doing everything they can to make their accommodations for their apprenticeships work,” Cooke said.
“It is not unique to our region. This is happening across the province in many other colleges and employers across the province and we are going to have to navigate our way through as COVID is slowly put behind us hopefully.”
In terms of some apprenticeship programs that are offered based on the number of students needing to complete the various skill levels, which can mean being offered differing years, such as the Millwright apprenticeship, Cooke said the college will look at scheduling to see if students unable to finish this cohort can do so as quickly as possible.
“We will have to look at the sequencing of the schedule to see if we can move that forward and increase the number of apprentices to do the advance level,” he said. “Or we may have others from other regions where we can offer that makeup here. So we will look at all options.”
