Presenting the EFE Andes program at the conference

Bibiana and Juan Guillermo gave an excellent presentation about our EFE program in Colombia on Sunday June 2. They showed a recently produced video of the small scale mining communities where we will focus our work of the EFE program the coming three years.

The EFE Peru delegation followed with an equally good presentation. They will do work in three provinces in the country where they will focus on the entire value added chain of operations in agri-business, also mostly with small scale and subsistence farmers.

Our Bolivian colleagues followed with an interesting presentation on the college system in their country which will need a complete "face-lift". The EFE program in Bolivia will have several focus areas among them also agriculture.

Before and after the presentations good networking between our international visitors and Canadian college representatives took place.

Visit to college in northern British Columbia

On June 5 we visited the campus of North West Community College in Smithers in the north of the province of British Columbia. We were warmly welcomed by a variety of college managers, by the mayor of Smithers and by one of the elders of the local First Nation:

After receiving a few presentations and some lively Q&A between our hosts and the visitors from Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, we visited a local mill for wood processing. The scale of this operation was impressive and the presentations about nowadays sustainable forestry were fantastic..

In the right top corner of this photo you see part of the processing plant. Taking photos of this very mechanized process do not really give you a good impression; you will have to try to visit one day yourself. The energy management is nowadays to a large extend self-sufficient by burning left-over produce and that way heating the huge wood dryers.

Also here we found an employee (seated during his lunch break) who spoke excellent Spanish from years working in forestry in South America; a nice coincidence. Next a few more photos of this operation set in the beautiful Rocky Mountains. North West Community College works closely with this company for specific training programs and internships.

 

After the visit to the mill, we drove to a field school of NWCC. Here they offer seven week training programs in mining exploration in close cooperation with some of the local mining companies.

The school has morning theory classes (see photo above) and afternoon field practicums in the setting in which the graduates afterwards will work in the exploration sector. Most of the students are in their thirties of forties and many have had a rough life. This course is for most of them an opportunity to re-enter the world of work based on the needs of the industry. During the evenings the students spend time with an aboriginal elder (more than 50 % of the trainees are aboriginal) in the local history and crafts. They produce their own graduation gowns according to local First Nation traditions.

Bibiana and Juan Guillermo, my Colombian colleagues on this visit to Canada, were captivated by the design and implementation of this specific training program.....

Visit to Skills Canada competition

On June 6 we visited the annual "Skills Canada" competition which this year took place in Vancouver. This competition is the last step in Canada for competitors to qualify for the annual "World Skills" (this year in July in Leipzig, Germany). It is truly an "Olympics" for trades people in training at colleges and polytechs around the world. I had never been able to witness this competition and it was fantastic to see how trades people take pride in their important work.

All competitors need to first qualify in their region and then in their provinces. Only the gold, silver and bronze medal winners move to the next level. The judges of this NTC (National Trades Competition) take their task very serious (all of them are experienced professionals and many of them in fact teach at Canadian Community Colleges).

The skills competition range from culinary skills to hairdressing, from car electronics to masonry and from landscaping to industrial electrical maintenance...

Our international visitors enjoyed this visit and they will take many ideas back home. SENA Colombia joined the World Skills organization four years ago and will have several of their graduates compete this year in Leipzig after qualifying in the "Skills Americas" last November in Sao Paulo.

One of the excellent aspects of this competition is that there are also a few categories for high school aged competitors. All the local school boards profit from this opportunity to bring their students to the competition to get a better sense of the many trades professions that exist.

One of the Canadian champions gets interviewed while showing off his skills which he will test in Leipzig next month. One of the special guests at the competition was Holmes, the TV star and home renovator, who was handing out many signatures...

I will leave you with some more photos of the competition. If this ever comes near where you live, you will have to make an effort to visit!

Visit to college in Ontario

On Friday June 7 we visited one of the campuses of Conestoga College in Cambridge, Ontario (also the home of the Blackberry producer RIM). We were welcomed at this brand-new campus where they offer programs in engineering and information technology. In the auditorium we listened to a variety of presentations on program design and applied research. Our colleagues from Bolivia, Peru and Colombia again had many questions...

After the presentations we were toured in their unique food processing training laboratory which contains about $500,000 in "real life" production equipment for the trainees to learn processes on. Without industry input and contributions such a laboratory would not be possible for a community college with limited budgets. Before entering the laboratory every trainee or visitor needs to dress according to industry standards and do the required cleaning:

Juan Guillermo did not only cover the hair on top of his head but also that under his chin :-)

The tour was excellent for our international colleagues and was in fact given by a Spanish speaker who emigrated from Central America to Canada 8 years ago. An excellent last day of our intensive week together in Canada.