Back to school in a big way for Oshawa’s post-secondary institution
Post-secondary institutions see thousands of new students flood into classrooms
All three of Oshawa’s post-secondary institutions saw their classrooms filled with new students now that school is back in session. In fact, Trent University’s Oshawa campus is seeing the largest group of new incoming students in its 40-year history.
By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express
At Oshawa’s university and colleges, September is a time for new things.
New classes, new notebooks, new textbooks, new programs, pencils, paper and pens. It also means a lot of new faces.
In total, Oshawa’s three big institutions are welcoming more than 8,000 first-year students to the area, some of whom are coming from across Canada and others from across the globe to obtain their diploma or degrees.
The largest influx of high school grads is flooding to Durham College, which has welcomed more than 5,700 to its two main campuses in recent weeks. The University of Ontario Institute of Technology, meanwhile, has seen approximately 2,300 new first-years.
And while these numbers are both up from the year prior, it was Trent University’s Oshawa campus that is setting new records, with the school welcoming its largest group of new incoming students in its 40-year history.
“We’re happy with the growth/ I think there is quite a lot of competition for the high school students right now. So it is good that we’re up,” says Joe Muldoon, the head of Trent’s Durham campus, adding that it is the campus’ specialized area of programs in the social sciences and humanities that are attracting students to the institution.
“We have our own unique niche,” he says. “I think students are coming in and looking for degrees that will give them jobs.”
The school also has several transfer agreements with surrounding colleges such as Durham College, Loyalist, Centennial and Seneca, which has brought in approximately 250 new students this year.
“We would say we are one of the most transfer-friendly universities in the region,” Muldoon says.
Yet Trent Durham is not the only school bumping its numbers. While Durham College’s 5,700 students is on-par with the 2015 school year, president Don Lovisa says enrolment has grown by 64 per cent over the past seven years.
Lovisa credits the growth not only to the school’s myriad of programs and its ability to attract local students who make up nearly 75 per cent of the student population, but also points to the growth in the region.
“You take all of that and then add it to the growth around Durham Region…we have the benefit of a growing community and prosperous community,” he says.
And while the faces may be new, Lovisa says the feeling of energy around the campus is the same every September.
“There’s all these young people, they’re excited, they’re enthusiastic, ready to go, meeting new friends, new experiences…It’s just such a great feeling,” he says.