What are collegiate schools?
And why are there more and more of them in Alberta?
Education in Canada, especially higher education, is designed to produce skilled professionals for the labor market. But schoolchildren also sometimes need to be prepared for professional education at universities. The province of Alberta has come up with an experimental format for this purpose — collegiate schools.
What are collegiate schools?
The Government of Alberta defines them as specialized educational institutions that provide students with a direct pathway to post-secondary education and future careers. These schools — private, public, charter, French-speaking or Catholic — offer academic programs for students in grades 7-12.
So far, 12 schools have been approved and are located in different parts of the province, in both villages and towns. Some will open this fall or have already opened, while others will welcome their first students next spring. Some of the schools have their own buildings. Others occupy space in existing schools and school divisions.
Alberta's approved collegiate schools are specialized. They have programs in environmental science, aviation, agriculture, health care, commercial driving, STEM majors and other skilled trades.
Collegiate schools must have a formal agreement with one or more institutions of higher education and offer experiential learning.
The Alberta Ministry of Education supports education initiatives. It has CAD 15.5 million to support permanent collegiate school facilities in 2022-23, and has provided 11 one-time grants of CAD 50.000 each.
Collegiate schools are a priority for the Alberta government. The provincial premier believes that the emergence of a large number of these institutions will "create pathways for students to post-secondary or their chosen fields in the workforce."
How are they different from regular schools?
In many Western education systems, there is a concept of "credit". In order to graduate from a program, a certain number of credits must be earned. The most common way to encounter this word is to study higher education. But it is also possible to earn credits while in high school, which increases the chances of an applicant for admission to a university.
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The main difference between collegiate schools and regular schools is that the educational model in collegiate schools is based on programs that have for many years allowed high school students to earn credits toward admission to college or university. In a sense, collegiate schools will prepare people, unlike graduates of regular schools, who have knowledge and even practical skills in a profession, but that is not yet a college degree.
There is, for example, the Central Alberta Collegiate Institute (CACI) program. This program teaches students about the trade professions. This program is available to students in several school districts in central Alberta. Students who attend these schools can graduate with access to apprenticeships and training programs at Olds College and Red Deer Polytechnic.
That is, collegiate schools allow students to receive both a high school education, additional credits, and practice that will help them in both future higher education and careers.
How many students attend such schools?
Collegiate school programs have already been chosen by hundreds of students across Alberta. The CACI program mentioned above has about 130 students in grades 10-12 participating this year.
Officials at STAND Collegiate, a collegiate school in Calgary, said about a dozen students will attend the institution full-time, while more than 60 others will take individual courses.
At Southern Alberta Collegiate Institute, 200 students and parents attended an informational seminar about the collegiate program.
Some schools are still in the process of developing their curricula, but are confident that they will soon be in high demand among students.
Will collegiate schools help with labor shortages?
First, since such schools cooperate with institutions of higher education, colleges and universities can tell the schools what is expected of students. That is, collegiate schools will prepare applicants for curricula in occupations whose holders are in demand in the labor market.
Second, let's give an example. Peace River School Division has partnered with Northwestern Polytechnic to create a "driving academy" in Alberta. The province is known to be in need of commercial drivers, so the goal of the academy is to help as many students as possible graduate from high school and become drivers.
Since not many collegiate schools have opened yet, it is difficult to assess how effectively they will help solve the labor shortage. But collegiate schools have all the chances to help improve the situation.
Help with enrollment in Canadian educational institutions
As tempting as this new Alberta initiative may be, we at Immigrant Today cannot boast of working with such institutions. We do, however, work with about a hundred institutions across Canada, so if you're looking for a post-secondary education that is rightly considered one of the best in the world, contact us. We will determine what your chances of getting a study visa to Canada are, advise you on how you can improve them, help you find the right study program and prepare the necessary documents. So make an appointment for consultation, and start your journey to Canada today.
