A popular new four-year business degree that lets students specialize
in tourism, fashion or "e-business" has helped boost Humber College's
first-year enrolment this fall by 10.8 per cent - the biggest jump of
all GTA colleges.
The new Bachelor of Applied Business program, which admitted 200 students this fall, is part of a growing range of courses drawing students to Humber, said John Mason, vice-president of student and corporate services.
As well as traditional college diploma programs, Humber also offers 10 applied degrees and six bachelor degrees in conjunction with the University of Guelph. The new business degree allows students to spend the final two years focussing on either tourism, e-business, fashion management, international business or human resources.
"And we have added 85,000 square feet of classroom space this year, so that meants we were able to grow," added Mason, whose college gets 50,000 applications a year for 8,800 spots.
Overall Ontario's 24 community colleges saw a 5.6 per cent jump in first-year enrolment this fall, to 95,805 students across the province. Linda Franklin, president of Colelges Ontario, said given the current economy, the job-focussed training of colleges will be in growing demand, noting the Conference Board of Canada has predicted Ontario faces a shortage of more than 360,000 skilled workers by 2025.
Toronto's George Brown College saw first-year enrolment rise this fall by 8.8 per cent; Oakville's Sheridan College by 6 per cent and Centennial College by about 5 per cent.
Source: The Toronto Star, Louise Brown, Oct 16 2008
