Provincial funding helps TRU significantly increase apprentice training capacity

“It’s been growing over the years,” Pooni told CFJC Today. “We’ve relied on one-time kind of funding to try to close that gap, but the fact that this funding is available means that we’ve got ability to plan for our classes.”

Pooni says some classes have already begun, and that by the end of March next year, TRU will have served an 800 additional students as well as their employers. He added it is a 60 per cent increase to the university’s current training capacity.

“Apprentices come for six to 10 weeks each year,” he said. “We’ve been basically telling people, ‘well, if we have the funding, we’ll put on that class.’ When we know that we’ve got that class, we can schedule it, we can start to enroll students.”

“Students have certainty. Employers have certainty as to when the students will be coming to class.”

Funding will go to support students at both the Kamloops and Williams Lake campuses, based on where the demand is. Pooni said the increased capacity also means students will be get trained a lot faster.

“People couldn’t get into training because of the wait list,” he said. “So, instead of taking four years to complete an apprenticeship, they were taking six, seven, eight years. So being able to do it in the minimum length of time, we’ll cut the time to certification in half.”

TRU president Airini says this boost in funding is a vote of confidence from the province for the work they’re doing to help meet that growing demand for skilled trades workers.

“I can’t speak for the provincial government, but that is how it feels to us,” Airini said. “We can see this increased investment and we can see the students coming in as well, and there’s excitement here.”

“Much credit to the team at TRU trades and their ability to adapt and to really step forward to serve the interior of B.C. That’s what we’re about.”

This round of funding is set to last for three years, and TRU is confident it will be able to meet the demand for increased training.

“I think that if we can show a demand, I expect that we would be up in the 600 to 700 student range next year,” Pooni said.

“This vote of confidence that we feel from government is further strengthening our role as British Columbia’s first dual-sector research university, where we do things that are applied and that solve challenges for businesses, for communities across interior B.C.” Airini added.

“We’re going to keep proving the case of why this university, is so good and so strong at preparing the skilled trades apprentices that are needed. We’re really looking forward to the future that we’re building together while continuing to serve interior B.C. and the province.”

by Victor Kaisar

Provincial funding helps TRU significantly increase apprentice training capacity

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