North Island College - Ministry of Advanced Education - Government ...

Institutional Accountability Plan and Report 2011/12Institutional Overview“Now, more than ever, we are focused on working creatively with industry, organizations, and educationalpartners to meet community needs.”Dr. Jan Lindsay, President, North Island CollegeThe story of North Island College is one of innovation and change, challenge, and success. For 35 years,North Island College has grown and adapted to serve the educational needs of the people andcommunities of the North Island region. Our vision of North Island College as a premier communityand destination college, that inspires and prepares students for success in a rapidly changing world isambitious and future-focused. We want to expose not only students from our region, but also thosefrom elsewhere in Canada and from throughout the world to the excellence and spectacular learningenvironment that is North Island College.No other college in British Columbia serves a region asvast and diverse as North Island College. Our region ishome to approximately 159,000 residents widelydispersed within a geographic region of 80,000 squarekilometres. This includes northern Vancouver Island andthe BC mainland coast from Desolation Sound to Klemtu.Our unique West Coast location gives North IslandCollege students an uncommon opportunity to choose ahighly sought-after alpine to ocean lifestyle with both ahigh quality education and a tuition rate that is among thelowest in the province.To meet the diverse needs of our communities, we offerover 70 credit programs and more than 900 courses inthe following areas: adult basic education (upgrading),business, health care, fine arts, interactive media,community care, human services, tourism and hospitality,Aboriginal education, international education, and IndustryTraining Authority approved trades, technology, andapprenticeship training as well as university transfer nationwide and dual admission with top BCuniversities. By actively expanding our post-secondary network, we are working to pioneer seamlesspathways for North Island students so that they may reside longer in our communities be it for theirfamily, friends, or work while still reaching their educational goals.In addition, hundreds of non-credit courses and programs are offered each year through our ContinuingEducation and Training department, which includes not only personal and professional development, butalso first aid, industry, and marine training that is so vital to our coastal communities. These include faceto-face,distance, and on-line options, as well as custom training services and in-community coursedelivery for groups in remote areas, particularly our region’s First Nations communities.7