The perception of college education has, for the longest time been that a student will attend an institution right after high school, spend three or four years in classrooms, and then a move onto the work force. However, a recovering economy, combined with a real skills gap has produced a growing number of would-be workers who lack necessary skills, and would-be students who lack the time and money to follow the traditional model of Toronto education.

Canada and Ontario have a changing workforce with changing needs, and Centennial College recognizes that education in Toronto is changing with it. The college believes in education for everyone, and elimination of the barriers preventing that. To that end, the school has invested heavily in both continuing education and distance education. The idea of continuing education tends to carry a stigma, but given the shifting needs of a workforce that may actively need to go back to school, it’s becoming increasingly necessary.

Fortunately, continuing education curriculums are planned and designed with the complicated needs of mature students in mind, and can be done on their terms, working around the life they already lead. For one thing, continuing education doesn’t have to follow a traditional classroom structure. Single-day workshops, and evening or weekend classes can be fit around a nine-to-five workday.

Centennial College even offers the option to engage in distance learning, eliminating the need to travel to class to begin with. Distance education in particular has stereotypes of flimsiness associated with it, but Centennial’s distance learning avoids them by partnering enrolled students with the same professional instructors as traditional classes, who can be accessed via a 24 hour online classroom, or by email. The classes themselves can be online or by correspondence.

Learning is a lifelong process, and as the world changes and evolves, it pays to keep work experience up to date. As technology advances and the economy shifts, so do the things employees need to know to stay on the job. What they learned in their previous schooling may not be enough, or no longer relevant to their career, and keeping up with the technology and practices in someone’s chosen field is a never-ending process. Centennial College recognizes this, and encourages Toronto students to think outside the four walls of a classroom and participate in the new wave of non-traditional post-secondary education.

SOURCE Centennial College