Visit to BCIT

Today I enjoyed a visit to BCIT, the British Columbia Institute of Technology. They have an excellent "catch phrase" nowadays: "Education for a complex world". My tour guide was their VP Academic, Tom Roemer with whom I have been done educational consultancy work in Mozambique (Tom speaks Portuguese from living and working in Portugall for two years early in his career). Tom took me to a variety of excellent applied technology training areas of the institution.

From a training home for energy efficiency to a training installation for high work stations such as for example oil rigs. And from a training hall for large building heating and cooling systems to a simulation laboratory for chemical production plants. Some pearls of our applied technology training in Canada and part of what is one of the strongest institutions in this field in Canada.

The simulation lab has specialized training modules all developed by BCIT staff in cooperation with industry experts. The simulation programs run on special servers and offer the students and trainees the opportunity to learn how to work with industrial control panels.

Jim (on the photo at the right) has worked at BCIt for more than 40 years and still loves his work as if he had started last week. Lucky students to have instructors like Jim!