In the coming months Olds College will unveil a multi-million-dollar fundraising effort dovetailed with the theme of its gala last week: beyond.
Acting vice-president of advancement Tanya McDonald says the college needs to raise that money in order to create infrastructure and programs to fit with the needs of today's post-secondary students and those that will come through its doors in the future.
She made those points during the college's annual fundraising gala, held April 7 at the Ralph Klein Centre, and during an interview with the Albertan.
McDonald said so far, college officials don't have a specific fundraising target in mind.
“Over the next couple of months we are working to refine our plans and to put together detailed drawings and cost estimates,” she said.
“In the coming months, we will be introducing each of the individual projects that are going to be part of beyond and we will share that – the more detailed information about the exact costs. But it's going to be a multi, multi-million-dollar target.”
“It's really about our vision and about how we can continue to offer the best in class education for our students and how we can continue to be responsive to industry's needs,” McDonald said.
“So when we talk about beyond, that's our vision for the future – beyond tomorrow, beyond traditional expectations of what people see post-secondary (education) as and beyond the classroom.”
She noted the college has done some of that already, by partnering with groups like O-NET and the Alberta Hotels and Lodging Association to provide industry-required education via mobile technology and videos.
“That's what we mean when we say, ‘beyond the classroom,'” McDonald said. “We're not confined to the limits of the classroom per se. But we utilize technology to be able to share the education to a broader audience.”
During the gala and in the Albertan interview, McDonald cited the demand for animal health education as one example of the need for Olds College to grow and evolve.
“We have four or five students applying to those programs for every spot that we can offer right now, and we offer those programs year-round, in order to train as many students as our current facilities can possibly handle,” McDonald said.
“But we know that there is more demand from students and there is more demand from industry for those skilled graduates.
“So we want to address that with a very forward-thinking plan moving forward to not just expand our infrastructure to be able to accommodate more students, but to do it in a way that we can really develop those programs that are just one of a kind -- just first in class in the province, in the nation.”
She said the college also wants to upgrade the health and wellness services it provides.
“You may be aware we already work with doctors in the community to come in and provide services here on our campus to our staff and our students,” McDonald said.
“We want to expand that model to be able to really address the needs of mental health.
“We recognize that rural areas are typically highly disadvantaged when it comes to mental health. We want to change that model. We want to be able to fully address that so that our students have the absolute best chance of success here.
“We recognize that some of our facilities need renovation in order for us to be able to make a centralized location where we can offer all of those kinds of supports to help with student success,” she said.
"It's really about our vision and about how we can continue to offer the best in class education for our students and how we can continue to be responsive to industry's needs."TANYA MCDONALDOLDS COLLEGE ACTING VICE-PRESIDENT ADVANCEMENT
