More trades students will soon be coming to Burnaby, after the provincial government announced funding for 272 new seats at the B.C. Institute of Technology last week.
BCIT will receive $1.35 million, with $798,000 to fund the additional seats and $553,000 to pay for minor equipment like tools, a small steam boiler, welding equipment, threading machines and other training equipment to support trades students.
“BCIT is the province’s largest trades training institution and the placement of its graduates in our industries has been outstanding,” said Burnaby North MLA Richard T. Lee, who joined advanced education minister Amrik Virk and jobs minister Shirley Bond at BCIT Monday for the announcement. “These additional seats and funding to support students means that workers will have the skills needed to continue driving our economy.”
The seats – for would-be welders, industrial electricians, ironworkers, crane operators and heavy duty equipment mechanics – are aligned with the top-12 trades jobs in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) sectors, according to the Ministry of Advanced Education, and will support in-demand jobs needed in other industries as well.
The ministry predicts the extra seats, which represent a four per cent increase over the 6,739 BCIT seats already funded by the Industry Training Authority, will cut waits time for some of those programs by as much as 10 months.
The Liberal government initially announced $6.6 million for critical trades seats as part of its Skills for Jobs Blueprint in April.
A Ministry of Advanced Education press release Monday said more funding announcements for public post-secondary institutions offering trades and technical training throughout the province will be made in the coming weeks.
