Focused on Student Success.
This year, Algonquin College celebrates 40 years as a leader in post-secondary education. This accomplishment is directly attributable to one fundamental guiding principle: dedication to student success. Algonquin offers quality programs, expands its facilities and forges strategic partnerships with the aim of ensuring students have access the education and skills training demanded by the marketplace and required to launch a rewarding career.

Algonquin has outstanding faculty and staff and is continually enhancing its learning environment and expanding its curriculum mix. New programs that were launched in fall 2007 include Biotechnology, e-Publishing and Green Architecture. The eco-friendly Construction Carpentry-Advanced Housing
program being offered at the Perth Campus focuses on the design and construction of buildings using environmentally sustainable methods.

Over the past year, the College completed more than 75 facility and infrastructure renewal projects. It opened a $3.8 million Animal Health Care Facility with all the features of a full veterinary clinic, announced plans for a dedicated Centre for Construction Trades and Building Sciences, and further
expanded its Simulation Health Centre for Health Studies. The Centre, proclaimed a “Hub of Nursing Excellence” by the Government of Ontario, contains the first fully-equipped operating room suite and critical care/trauma unit in an educational facility in Canada.

Algonquin’s firsts don’t end there. The College became the first in Canada to ‘go green’ with a series of practices that will yield close to $600K in annual energy savings over the next decade. It also became the first college in Canada to enter into a partnership with the Canadian Forces to offer a Geomatics
Technician Program as part of the Forces’ Alternative Delivery Program. The College has taken a lead role in the multi-year Colleges Integrating Immigrants to Employment (CIITE) initiative administered by the Colleges of Ontario Network for Education and Training (CON*NECT), which aims to introduce changes to the college system that will improve pathways to employment for internationally trained immigrants. Innovation also extends to our Pembroke Campus where our unique partnership with Wilderness Tours, Canada’s largest outdoor adventure company, is recognized by the tourism industry as providing unparalleled training for the College’s Outdoor adventure students.

Among Algonquin’s ongoing efforts to strengthen connections with high schools and teachers, the College also created the exciting Small World, Big Picture Expedition, offering thousands of Ontario secondary students an online multimedia view of a 20-week trek through nine African countries.
“Algonquin has demonstrated impressive global consciousness and leadership through its work with Expedition Africa,” remarked Stephen Lewis, Canada’s Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. Other international efforts undertaken by Algonquin include the delivery of Animation, Hospitality Management and Mechanical Technician- Toolmaking programs in India; and participation in a five-year, multimillion-
dollar program sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency that will enhance early childhood education in Egypt.

In recognition of its commitment to progress and excellence, the College, in partnership with two universities, was a co-recipient of a $500,000 award from the Ontario Centres of Excellence, and a co-recipient of a $3.5 million award from the Ministry of Research and Innovation’s Colleges Ontario Network for Industry Innovation to build applied research capacity at ten Ontario Colleges. Algonquin subsequently launched the Algonquin Innovations program to establish joint applied research projects with local business and community partners. Over the past year, the College continues to focus on access for all student groups. To broaden access to education for northern communities, the
College delivered business skills upgrade training to Government of Nunavut and Baffin Region Chamber of Commerce employees, and project management skills training to the CREE Regional Authority.

On campus, Algonquin established an Aboriginal student advisory focus group to identify opportunities for refining the services of the College’s Madmidosewin Centre. Algonquin recognizes that with the right training, support and inspiration, students can achieve their career goals, make important contributions to the local, national and global community, and take their place in the skilled workforce of tomorrow. This year is one of celebration for Algonquin College as it commemorates four decades of student success. This milestone provides an opportunity to look back at all that the College has accomplished for its students and the communities in which they work,
live and learn.