Jeff Colbourne
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 08/98) - Northerners hoping to tap into careers in the electronic and communication Þelds may soon have to look no further than Yellowknife for training.

Starting this September, Aurora College, in conjunction with the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, is offering an two-year electronics diploma course.

"The main thrust behind the program is there's

a demand for electronic engineering technologists in the North," said Kerry Robinson, program development ofÞcer with Aurora College.

One year ago, industry representatives from the Inuvialuit Development Corp., Nuna Logistics and Ardicom came to Aurora College and asked them to look into the feasibility of a Northern electronics program.

The college responded by forming a steering committee consisting of college and industry representatives. One of the Þrst things to become apparent was it would be too expensive for a full two-year program to be run in Yellowknife, considering the cost of equipment, said Robinson.

"We did see it feasible to deliver a Þrst-year in the North and second year in the South," said Robinson.

Aurora College came to an agreement to follow NAIT's programming and deliver the Þrst year out of Yellowknife and the second year at NAIT.

Right now, the college is at the marketing stage, trying to attract potential students.

"We've got the approval for funding from the Department of Education to deliver the program but the biggest hurdle right now is trying to get enough interested applicants that have the pre-requisites."

Students must have Grade 12 math, science and English to be accepted.

"Our biggest challenge right now is, will we have enough qualiÞed students to deliver the program? If we do, it will be a go. If we don't, it won't.

The college wants to have at least 12 qualiÞed students to run the program and it can handle a maximum of 16.

"People should take the program because there are a lot of career opportunities all over Canada and the North," he said.

Students will learn about electronic circuitry, digital electronics, computer programming, assembly programming language and basic circuitry, all in the Þrst year.

In the second year students get into instrumentation and more complicated technology systems.

Employers who have supported the program have committed to hiring students for between the Þrst and second years' summer break.

David Connelly, chair of the steering committee overseeing the program, said business people like himself were tired of losing opportunities in the electronics Þeld because few Northerners were trained to do the work. Jobs in the electronic and technology Þelds were going to southerners.

"It's industry-led to meet the demands required by industry and to ensure that technology is an area of growth in future opportunities," said Connelly.

Deadline for program applications is May 22.