Collège Boréal receives $8 million in new funding

Two levels of government announced on Friday that they are investing more than $8 million to help Collège Boréal establish new French-language post-secondary programs.

The college said with this funding it will start work to develop new bachelor’s degrees that will address specific training and labour needs in northern Ontario.

“Thanks to this joint investment with the province of Ontario, we are enabling Collège Boréal to stand out with an interesting service offer,” Nickel Belt MP Marc Serre said in a release.

“In addition to representing the college’s areas of interest, the programs offered will better meet the needs of the Francophone student population and prepare them for their entry into the job market.

The Government of Canada will provide $5.1 million in funding over three years under the Canada–Ontario Agreement on Minority-Language Education and Second-Language Instruction. The Government of Ontario will provide just over $2.9 million over the same three years.

“So we’re going to do the business case, build market analysis and develop and submit six new degrees for northern Ontario,” said college president Daniel Giroux.

Collège Boréal located in Sudbury however the college has 38 access centres in 26 communities across the province; including six additional campuses in Hearst, Kapuskasing, Nipissing, Timmins, Toronto, and Windsor.

“It’s also important that we invest and promote in the French languages and in students who want to continue their studies in French in post-secondary,” said Sudbury MP Viviane Lapointe.

“Now they will have that ability to do that and greater choice to be able to do that right here in Sudbury.”

The college, which just celebrated its 25th anniversary and said this money marks an exciting new chapter for post-secondary students who want their programs in French.