This article originally appeared on quintedevelopment.com
Loyalist College is putting the Bay of Quinte on the map. Located in Belleville, Loyalist College offers over 70 full-time diploma, certificate, and apprenticeship programs in biosciences, building sciences, business, community service, health and wellness, media studies, public safety, and skilled trades. Loyalist is ranked one of Canada’s Top Colleges and offers students more than a million dollars in financial support. With 3500 students currently enrolled, Loyalist College has its highest enrollment numbers ever.
Loyalist College Builds Programs to Support the Bay of Quinte
Loyalist College used QEDC’s Emerging Technologies report to identify opportunities that needed to be filled within the region in an effort to support industries in the Bay of Quinte. One of the courses offered from this audit is the brand new Mechatronics program. Jeremy Braithwaite, Coordinator and Professor, Mechatronics, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Programs, describes this program as designed to support advanced manufacturing in the region. Loyalist College recognized that as companies adopt more automation, these companies need employees who can support these facilities and processes. Loyalist College is committed to outputting graduates who have the skills required to work with automated systems.
The college has also partnered with Siemens to build a new lab and technologies and is offering an international certification program for graduate students: the Siemens Mechatronics Systems Certification Program (SMSCP). When employers hire graduates of this program, they can be guaranteed employees who have demonstrated an international standard of competency in mechatronics.
What Kinds of Grads Can Employers Expect from Loyalist College? World Champions
One testament to the college’s advanced manufacturing programs is Spencer Chandu-Lall’s, 2022 national championship winning performance and participation at the World Skills Competition in Mechanical Engineering and Design in France. In October 2022, Chandu-Lall and Braithwaite (his trainer) traveled to France so the Loyalist grad could compete for Team Canada in the 4-day competition. One year prior, Chandu-Lall didn’t know anything about 3D modeling but through his aptitude and abilities and Loyalist College’s program he was able to compete with the rest of the world in the skilled trades.
Braithwaite believes that part of what makes Loyalist College so special is the Bay of Quinte; “There’s something special about this region and the people here.” Chandu-Lall is not only a Loyalist grad, he’s a Bay of Quinte resident, from Napanee, Ontario. Loyalist College competes and wins regularly in skilled trades competitions at the provincial and national level. He also says that these skills are being nurtured at the secondary school level as well. “Michael Burns and his team at Bayside Secondary School have been doing some incredible things. They had a competitor place top in the country at the secondary level in welding.”
Loyalist College is working hard for students, for the sectors that are thriving in the region, and for the Bay of Quinte. The Loyalist administration encourages students to find employment opportunities right here in the region using the Bay of Quinte Industrial Directory, available in hard copy and online. Employers in the Bay of Quinte, if you are interested in world-class, highly skilled employees, look no further than Loyalist College grads.
These programs are producing highly skilled graduates, ready to work in the Bay of Quinte: Manufacturing Engineering Technician, Mechatronics, and Electrical Techniques.
The Quinte Economic Development Commission (QEDC) provides information, connections, and resources for manufacturers in the Bay of Quinte. QEDC supports the region’s businesses and entrepreneurs as well as the local workforce.