The Health Care Assistant (HCA) program is up and running at the Sprott Shaw College satellite campus in 100 Mile House, and it’s offering a new Business Administration program in the near future.
Local campus manager Diana Badke says there are five women in the inaugural HCA program who have completed one month of the course and are “really happy” with the smaller class size and the one-on-one attention they are getting.
She notes the program involves 4.7 months in the classroom studies, and then the students go into the community to do their two-month clinical portion of the program.
“We’ve made connections with all of the facilities and all of the preliminary plans are in place. We just have contracts to sign, so they’ll be doing their ‘clinicals’ locally … and doing some home support as well.”
Badke says there will be another intake for the HCA on March 24.
She adds the college is going to be offering its Business Administration (BA), which is a 25-week, full-time program. Classes will be four hours a day and will be held in the afternoon.
The program is scheduled to start on March 31 and those interested need to apply by March 14.
The BA program is being offered because the Labour Market Outlook Report states the demand for this position peaks in 2014, Badke says, adding 85 per cent of the openings will be replacing retiring workers or deaths.
“We’re looking at which programs are in the growth end of things and using the Cariboo Regional document and seeing which industries have growth prospects. We also look at local job boards, local need and long-term forecasts.”
She notes Sprott Shaw College also offers upgrade programs and go into specialty areas in various programs.
Badke says students are also offered lifetime support that is provided by trained employment specialists. She adds Sprott Shaw College added this service, which includes employment and curriculum research, last year.
