OLDS, ALBERTA, May 16, 2013: Beginning in September of 2013, Olds College will be offering a certificate and diploma in Hospitality and Tourism. This program, previously offered at Red Deer College, was transferred to Olds College last week as a result of program alignments within Central Alberta.
Red Deer College and Olds College enjoy a healthy and productive working relationship as we jointly steward the post-secondary education and training needs of Central Alberta. Earlier this year, RDC agreed to accept Olds College Office Administration students when Olds College decided to defer intake into the program. And now, just last week, Red Deer College has come to us with their Hospitality and Tourism Programs because they believe it better aligns with our College’s strengths and partners in the industry.
“This is an excellent example of two Campus Alberta partners working together to provide programming within our region that aligns to the strengths of each institution,” notes President, Dr. H.J. (Tom) Thompson, adding, “By playing to each College’s strengths, we avoid unnecessary duplication of programming and can provide high quality and greater access to the students of Alberta.”
As of this September, and for one year, Olds College will teach the Red Deer College certificate and diploma programs in Hospitality and Tourism. The College will use this upcoming year to realign the programming according to the resources and assets we have on our campus.
“The Pomeroy Inn and Suites at Olds College, Chartwells, Meat program, Brewery, restaurant, conference services, event planning, and franchise exposure are all things our future students will be able to enjoy as part of their learning experience on campus,” says Dr. Jason Dewling, Vice President of Academics and Research. “We also enjoy hospitality program relationships with two other Post-Secondary Institutions in the Dominican Republic and Hawaii and want to leverage those international destinations and our current assets and partners to make our revamped Hospitality and Tourism programs, a ‘destination program.’”
Once the program is revamped, it will have a clear pathway to the needs and desires of the industry while providing students with a world class educational experience.
The current RDC program historically has 40 students in the certificate and 20 in the diploma. Olds College plans to build on these numbers by including dual credit initiatives which will benefit local and regional students as well as businesses that operate in the hospitality and tourism industry.
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