Academic Pathways Guidebook 2021 Edition

SUCCESS
STORY
Alumnus Waqas Bin Idrees
Broadcasting – Radio, Television,
Film and Digital Media
From Diploma To Degree: Centennial’s Educational Partnerships Advance Student’s Skill Set
It had been about a year since
Waqas Bin Idrees completed
Centennial College’s Broadcasting
- Radio, Television, Film and
Digital Media program when he
found himself back on campus.
There to help judge the program’s
student film awards, Idrees’s visit
inadvertently turned into a catalyst
for the graduate to go from advanced
diploma to degree in just one
additional year of study.
“I didn’t plan on getting a degree
but when UWE said I could complete
one in just two semesters, I became
convinced. In four years, I ended up
with an advanced diploma, a degree,
and I studied in Bristol, which is a
UNCESO City of Film. Centennial had
my transcripts and they were sent
to the university to be assessed and
then passed onto admissions. When
they mapped out the courses I had
taken, they exempted me from two
years of university.”
Throughout its more than 60
years, Centennial College has
cultivated strong relationships with
other colleges and universities
that allow students to seamlessly
transition from college to college or
college to university. Today, there
are over 1,000 pathway options
for students to gain additional
credentials, including going from
diploma to degree, like Idrees. These
pathways often allow students to
use academic credits earned at
Centennial to shorten the amount
of time it takes to complete further
education. Idrees happened to be
the first student to take advantage
of the Centennial-UWE Bristol
connection.
Other such diploma to degree
opportunities include unique
joint programs and collaborative
programs with local universities.
These often involve students
completing part of their studies
at Centennial and the rest at the
partnering university. Centennial also
has degree completion partnerships
through which students go from
college to university by attending
university-level classes facilitated on
the College’s campus.
Because Idrees’s interest lies as a
producer in filmmaking, he believes
the college to university transition
will prove valuable when the industry
ramps up to full speed as the world
recovers from COVID-19.
“If I didn’t have the three years at
Centennial, there is no way I could
have done my university. In fact,
in some ways, such as audio, I
was better trained than my peers,”
he says of the diploma to degree
transition.
Also, because I want to be a producer, I feel the degree was a necessary
element that will make it easier for me to move up. Lots of jobs,
especially working with big studios like Netflix or Disney, require degrees.
This was the missing piece.