NSCC Cumberland Campus Community Celebrates Upcoming Changes
EDUCATION--NSCC Cumberland Campus Community Celebrates Upcoming Changes
Education Minister Jamie Muir, students and staff will celebrate upcoming changes to the Cumberland Campus of the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) today, Nov. 24. The celebrations include the planting of a tree to symbolize the growth and change underway as the campus in Springhill prepares to begin more than $500,000 in renovations.
The renovations are part of the province's $123-million investment in NSCC announced earlier this year to offer more education and training programs to more students, closer to home. The development project will upgrade student learning areas and create seats for 21 additional students at the Cumberland Campus.
"This is a great day for the students and staff of NSCC and the people of Cumberland County," said Mr. Muir. "Increasing local opportunities for education and training at state-of-the-art facilities, will help more students to prepare for a successful and rewarding future."
The investment is part of the government's skills initiative, Skills Nova Scotia. It involves working with partners to upgrade people's skills from basic literacy to the use of the most advanced technologies so they can further their success in education and the workplace. The investment will support a multi- year plan to strengthen NSCC, enabling the college to modernize facilities, increase student capacity, and enhance skill-driven learning programs.
"The staff and students at Cumberland Campus have been keenly involved since April in determining how this renovation will unfold, and the excitement is building as the final details take place," said Myrna Breen, principal, Cumberland Campus. "This development is essential in Cumberland County and provincewide. It will support the learners who will enter the labour market with the skills Nova Scotia requires, and it will also inspire a new view of learning in Nova Scotia, one that includes a national calibre community college."
Over the next seven years, 2,500 additional students -- an increase of 30 per cent -- will enter the college at its rural and metro campuses.
Improvements at the Cumberland Campus will upgrade student learning areas, expand the library, and build a new Centre for Student Success, cafeteria and main lobby area.
Renovations to the library will more than double its current size, creating more research and learning space including eight computer stations, study areas and student meeting rooms.
The Centre for Student Success will centralize all of the services and resources for students in one area and will include testing and meeting rooms for students. The reception area in the front lobby will be renovated and the business office will be made more accessible to students and visitors. In addition, the development will focus on accessibility, creating two new side entrances and an elevator in the front lobby.
The drawings for the renovations will be completed this month, the construction tender call will go out in January 2004, and construction will begin at in February 2004. The project is scheduled for completion in 2005.