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good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome
to Douglas College early summer orientation 2011
my name is Eric Glanville I'm the manager at the office for new students here at
Douglas College
and it is my distinct pleasure to be one of the first to welcome you to the
community tonight
one of the nice things about working here at Douglas College
is the outstanding leadership that we have in fact about two years ago we got
ourselves a new president
that president came with a passion for putting students first
he also put together a strategic plan but essentially said well when the first
things we're focusing on
is enhancing learner pathways which is a fancy title that means
we're doing everything we can to make sure that your transition
into the Douglas College community runs as smoothly
and is effectively an enjoyably as it possibly can
we're very very glad to have that type of leadership here
to serve you in your first year that you're heading into in September
you may notice that's if you've gone to the Douglas College website
there's actually a message from the president to you that we have displayed
if you get a chance I'd encourage you to read it fine a little bit more about him
you may also have noticed that the picture that's there on the right hand
side of the page
looks suspiciously similar to the gentleman that standing over there on my
left about half way back
that's because we are very fortunate that the president
the college has decided to take some time out this evening to be here and to
welcome you personally to the Douglas College community
so if you will take a moment to join me now in welcoming doctor Scott mcalpine
I do own more than one tie
well thank you so much
everybody for making the right choice to come to Douglas College
Eric said that we established a new strategic plan to
approximately this time last year and the new strategic plan for Douglas
College calls for us to be the largest
most progressive baccalaureate degree granting college
in British Columbia and over the next three to five years we will become
exactly that let me talk for couple moments about what
that means to us what that means to us in terms of largest is obviously the
largest number of students
but it's not only about the numbers have students it's about what it is that the
students are doing
you are going to join when you graduate from this fine institution
approximately 40,000 other graduates
of Douglas College in our 40th year
suspiciously like the Canucks in our 40th year
as a post-secondary educational institution
what are we devoted to as an institution we're devoted to learner pathways
and what we mean by learner pathways is your
pathway to your educational dreams aspirations and ultimately
your educational success whatever that looks like
to you to you not to us
but to you that's critical because for many of you
that is going to look like a certificate or a diploma
for many a few that's going to look like a few
courses to transfer to another institution
whether it be Simon Fraser University University of British Columbia
University of California Berkeley which we just signed an agreement with
or some other post-secondary institution for many of you it's going to look
like a Douglas College associate degree
I E a two-year a transfer arrangement that will go
virtually anywhere in Canada for others it's going to look like a baccalaureate
degree
whether that would be in nursing whether that would be
in psychosocial rehab whether that would be and whatever it would be
for some love you you're returning students it's going to be taking your
credentials or your previous education
from wherever it is and taking
that education and transferring it
into Douglas into one of our credentials again certificate diploma degree
or post degree/diploma so this educational experience is not about us
it's clearly about you when we talk about being the most progressive
educational institution what are we talking about
we're talking about such things as this
session as actually trying to get to know
the students at Douglas College little bit better trying to get to know
there's parents and their a significant others a little bit better
and trying to relate your educational experience
to the experience of the broader world through experiential learning
in praticums and so on or
indeed increasingly through international opportunities that were
hoping to make available
to all of our students some little-known fact about Douglas College
we have the largest number
of international students have any college
in the British Columbia system we also
arguably have the largest number of international students
of any college in the canadian system
we have the largest number of international students studying
abroad
of any college in British Columbia again
we arguably have the largest number of students studying abroad
of any college in Canada we
have innovated and we will continue to innovate
over the next three to five years what you going to see
is many many many new programs coming
online as we try to grow the enrollment at Douglas College
by approximately 20 percent over the next three to five years
but not just any 20 percent, 20 percent that is going to
fulfill your educational dreams aspirations and pathways
so folks you've come to the right place
you've come from many places and to the right place
and whether you going to go on as teachers
as nurses as biologists as
simply good citizens of the province of British Columbia or or elsewhere
we're all very confident that Douglas College
is the right place for you as you embark upon your educational pathway
so with that all I'll leave it to my good friend Eric
to take it away and to introduce you to the next part of the session
thank you go Canucks go