Lakeland College and Grande Prairie Regional College are working together to expand emergency services training.
The two colleges signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Friday, October 30, which will allow the two colleges to share industry trends, contribute to each others’ planning initiatives, and work to increase access to emergency services training in northwestern Alberta.
“Lakeland College welcomes the opportunity to enter into this agreement and further strengthen its relationship with GPRC. Together we will collaborate and grow educational opportunities in emergency services, especially for highschool students,” said Alice Wainwright-Stewart, president of Lakeland. “Our presence in northwestern Alberta, including Grande Prairie, and our emergency services programming has the potential to grow thanks to this MOU, which could lead to dual-credit programming opportunities in the future.”
This year, Lakeland and GPRC have jointly offered the NFPA 472 Hazardous Materials Awareness course to high school students in the Grande Prairie area.
“Working with our colleagues at Lakeland College, GPRC will continue to explore ways to expand the range of opportunities for students in our region thanks to this new agreement with Lakeland College,” said Don Gnatiuk, GPRC president and CEO. “GPRC’s dual credit program is growing and providing high school student the opportunity to take college courses that earn them high school credits. Signing this MOU will help GPRC increase those for high school students to earn college credit and make the transition from high school to post-secondary easier while opening up the discussion for future partnerships to increase emergency services training in northwestern Alberta.”
The two colleges say they will work through their respective registrars to develop and maintain admission processes for students interested in attending, and increase student and industry awareness of programming offered as a result of the MOU.