CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. - Donald DesRoches, president of Collège de l'Île, admits there was some early doubts as to how long it was going to take to have the new Charlottetown campus filled with students.
And how long the college would be “paying rent in a building that wouldn’t be filled.”
As it turned out, it didn’t take as long as he, and staff, thought.
“We’ve certainly grown at a rate a lot quicker than we would have forecast,” said DesRoches.
Classes at the Charlottetown campus began on Sept. 6, and this fall semester, 16 new full-time, first year students were welcomed.
That’s a drastic increase from Sept. 30, 2016, when the college moved into 295 Kent St. and welcomed two full-time, first year students as well as seven new students a year later.
Overall, along with the Wellington campus, the total of new, first-year students at the publicly funded French-language community college is 32 – a record number. As well, 40 per cent of those students are international students – also an all-time high.
In 2015, Collège de l'Île and Holland College formed a partnership to move into the Kent Street property. Since opening, students at either institution can attend courses at either school, and Collège de l'Île has access to classroom space at Holland College, and students also have access to Holland College facilities and services.
Programs offered at Collège de l'Île include accounting clerk, administrative assistant, resident care worker, youth worker and practical nursing, as well as part-time courses, general education development (GED) and language training.
To help pay for the extensive renovations and restoration the Kent Street property (which was first built in the early 1900s) as well as pay for new video conferencing equipment, Holland College received $475,000 from the province. Other renovations include a student lounge, office space and energy-efficient windows.
The property also got a makeover with a change in colour from its white exterior to yellow with a bright red door.
The video conferencing equipment in the Charlottetown campus’s four classrooms allows students and instructors to participate in classes off-campus and off-Island.
The school began as Société éducative de l'Î.-P.-É. in 1993 – a non-profit community organization – until it rebranded as Collège de l'Île in 2008 when it became a publicly funded French-language community college, similar to Holland College and UPEI.
In addition to Charlottetown and Wellington, the college has a training centre in Deblois. In the past five years (2012-17) the college has averaged around 300 students in total.
Having a campus in Charlottetown is consistent with the growth of French immersion students as well as newcomers to the city. As well, the college is playing an important role training the next generation of bilingual workers on the Island.
When DesRoches joined the college in 2011, his goal was to expand the institution’s off-Island partnerships and develop partnerships with institutions on the Island as well.
“To make sure that Islanders who have gone through French first-language, or French immersion programs, have as nice a place to land as somebody who has gone through an English program,” he explained.
The college has seven full-time instructors, one part-time instructor and between four and seven sessional instructors. DesRoches notes that staffing instructors is stable, but it can be a challenge finding a temporary replacement since potential, French-speaking candidates are usually already employed full-time and may not be available.
“The people we want to hire already have a job. They’re not sitting there waiting for someone to give them a call,” he said.
The college’s Charlottetown presence has also come a long way from an earlier partnership with l'Université Sainte-Anne, and one room in the Confederation Court Mall.
“I think it’s very important for us to be here. And, I think it’s important for us to have the capacity to grow,” he said.
“There’s a whole lot of things to be positive about in the way that things have evolved here in the very short time, really, that we’ve been here.”
