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Sault College postpones startup of railway industry programming.


A new introductory Sault College Sault College is one of 24 publicly funded community colleges in Ontario. Sault College is located in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and began in 1965 as the Ontario Vocational Centre.  program designed to replenish re·plen·ish  
v. re·plen·ished, re·plen·ish·ing, re·plen·ish·es

v.tr.
1. To fill or make complete again; add a new stock or supply to: replenish the larder.

2.
 the ranks of Canada's aging railway workforce has been suspended for one year due to a lack of students.

A college official attributes the temporary postponement of the two-year signals and communications program Software that manages the transmission of data between computers, typically via modem and the serial port. Such programs were very popular for connecting to BBSs before the Internet took off.  on a late start last year in unveiling and effectively marketing the program to Ontario students.

"We were too ambitious in our hopes for this fall," says Sault College spokesman Rick McGee, of their partnership training program with Canadian National Railway Canadian National Railway, rail system in Canada and the United States, extending from coast to coast in Canada with many branch lines in each province and in the United States.  and the Railway Association of Canada.

Only six students were registered for the academic year, four below the 10-student minimum requirement to start. The program can accommodate 25. McGee fully expects the program to launch in September 2005.

McGee says any new programming typically requires about 18 months of promotion to build awareness and secure students.

Since the college did not officially unveil the rail program until last November, they missed out on last fall's marketing cycle in Ontario high schools Ontario High School may refer to:
  • Ontario High School (Oregon) in Ontario, Oregon
  • Ontario High School (California) in Ontario, California
  • Ontario High School (Ohio) in Ontario, Ohio
.

As well, they did not receive Ministry of Education approval for the railway program until early July, since the college filed their formal program application in April.

While McGee says the ministry responded quickly, "it was a function of a whole timing sequence" and the college could not provide prospective rail students with any tuition information.

The signals and communications program was designed to take electronics and electrical students from a common first-year grouping and funnel them into more specialized second-year streams, learning about power supply, relays, track circuits, switches, cross warning systems and other related items.

"It's disappointing," says McGee. "We tried to do something very ambitious and start the program in a shorter-than-normal time frame and didn't succeed. But our commitment to the program remains very strong and long-term."

McGee anticipates they will easily make the minimum 10-student enrolment mark next September with a full year of program promotion planned for high schools across Ontario, particularly in the North.

CN Rail has already provided the signals and communications training equipment, which have been installed in a lab.

By IAN ROSS Ian Ross is the name of:
  • Ian Ross (playwright) (born 1968 in McCreary, Manitoba), a Métis playwright
  • Ian Ross (football manager) (born 26 November 1947 in Glasgow), a footballer for Liverpool and Aston Villa and manager of Huddersfield Town
 

Northern Ontario Business Northern Ontario Business is a Canadian magazine, which publishes monthly in Greater Sudbury, Ontario. The magazine covers business news and issues in Northern Ontario.  
COPYRIGHT 2004 Laurentian Business Publishing, Inc.
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2004, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Title Annotation:Special Report: Sault Ste. Marie
Author:Ross, Ian
Publication:Northern Ontario Business
Geographic Code:1CANA
Date:Oct 1, 2004
Words:349
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