**NORTHERN COLLEGE NEWS RELEASE**

Northern College is pleased to announce that it is meeting and exceeding provincially mandated goals outlined in the Strategic Mandate Agreement (SMT) of 2017-2020.

Northern College selected 10 areas of focus, spanning all aspects of the academic experience, from student life to innovation and program development all earmarked for improvement between 2017 and 2020.

Half way through the allocated time frame, Northern College has exceeded expectations for more than half of the goals targeted for the end of 2020.

The Colleges’ efforts in the area of Applied Research Excellence and Impact engaged over thirty regional entrepreneurs in 2017-18, aiding in their efforts to realize their technological and business goals having significantly grown from three participants when initially launched during the 2016-17 academic term.

Northern College is also exceeding provincial graduation averages from Board approved programs, with 94 per cent of students receiving their certificates.

“Northern College is all about the learner, and innovation. This SMA report characterizes these achievements and once again demonstrates the high quality of our staff, faculty and programming,” stated says Dr. Audrey J. Penner, Vice President Academic and Student Success at Northern College.
“We are almost a year and a half ahead of schedule, it takes a dynamic team to make this type of achievement possible.”

Northern College is committed to constant improvement across all aspects of post-secondary education training, technology and equipment to ensure the highest quality experience for students.

Northern College achieved a marked increase in introducing experiential learning opportunities for students with 50 per cent of programming offering some manner of hands on learning aimed at producing the graduates with hands on experience in their respective fields.

“Today’s college student is a discerning consumer who is looking for a quality education that blends academic studies with work integrated learning and in demand skills development that lead to employment in their field,” stated Northern College’s President and CEO, Dr. Fred Gibbons. “Our college prides itself on industry partnerships and the innovative use of technology to enhance the learning experience of our students.”

The Strategic Mandate Agreement is an annual report used by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities to track long term goals and provide performance indicated feedback, allowing institutions to provide contextual information and a narrative associated with metric performance in priority areas.

The complete SMA report can be found here.

Filed under: Local News