Camosun College is close to finalizing a process that will allow its engineering students to go directly into second year when they move on to other sa国际传媒 universities in pursuit of engineering degrees.
Students who complete the 10-month engineering transfer program at Camosun — which introduces them to engineering mechanics and project design — are currently treated like any other second-year engineering student when they continue their studies at the University of Victoria.
But it can be a different story for those trying to enter another degree-granting institution, such as the University of British Columbia or Simon Fraser University, since they don’t know if their course credits will be accepted, said Susan Chen, a Camosun instructor in charge of the college’s engineering transfer program.
The program, which started accepting students in 2013, is designed around UVic undergraduate requirements and there are a number of guaranteed seats at UVic for graduates of the transfer program, Chen said.
But with November’s signing of the Common First Year Engineering Curriculum agreement between the province’s six engineering-degree-granting universities and Camosun, students who complete Camosun’s 10-month program will be able to go to any university in sa国际传媒 and be accepted with second-year standing, Chen said.
The agreement also includes the 14 post-secondary institutions in the province that have engineering transfer programs similar to Camosun’s.
Vancouver Island University professor Brian Dick, who has chaired much of the process since it first began in 2018, was instrumental in finalizing the agreement, Chen said.
While 95 per cent of graduates from Camosun’s engineering transfer program continue their studies at UVic’s Gordon Head campus, there are usually one or two students who look to continue their studies elsewhere in sa国际传媒, Chen said, adding that University of sa国际传媒 Okanagan’s campus has historically been a popular second choice.
Camosun’s engineering transfer program, which usually welcomes 28 to 35 students per cohort, provides a more intimate learning experience than at larger institutions, where there are often auditorium-style classes with hundreds of students learning simultaneously.
“It’s a really good transition to avoid the culture shock going to a big place from high school,” Chen said.
There are many specialized streams of engineering degrees in sa国际传媒 — six degrees are offered at UVic alone — and courses like Camosun’s engineering transfer program help high school students figure out which one to pick, she said.
The tuition is also less expensive and smaller cohorts allow instructors to offer more hands-on education, she said.
The changes to Camosun’s transfer program — which include an extra course during the May-June semester — will be finalized in time for students who start classes this September, Chen said.
Negotiations aimed at establishing guaranteed engineering-student seats at universities other than UVic are still underway, said Chen, who is hopeful the agreements will be finalized by the fall of 2026.
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