Darren Campbell
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 23/98) - Business and education leaders in the Northwest Territories are working together to create a program that will lead to jobs for students.

Aurora College and eight Northern businesses launched the Electronics Engineering Technology Program at the college's Yellowknife campus Monday.

The program, which was two years in the making, is in response to the shortage of electronic technicians that are from the North.

David Connelly was the chairperson of the steering committee that helped develop the program. He said two years ago, eight Northern-owned companies, including ARDICOM and the Inuvialuit Development Corporation, realized there was a need for 40 electronic technicians a year.

The problem was that they had no Northerners who were qualified to fill the jobs.

"The dichotomy was we had Northern companies, creating Northern jobs and no one with the skills to fill them," said Connelly.

As a result, those jobs were filled by people from Southern Canada. Currently Aurora College has 14 students enroled in the program this year.

Students who get through the first-year of studies can then apply to take second-year studies at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. If they are accepted they can branch off into three areas of electronic engineering diplomas -- avionic, bio-medical, and general electronics.

Mike Shouldice, director of the Yellowknife campus, said he is excited about the program because it will fill a need in the Northwest Territories.

"There is a market for this in the North," said Shouldice. "There is a job in every community for someone who can do basic computer repair."

He said as local businesses in communities all over the Northwest Territories get into selling computer equipment and providing Internet services, they need qualified people to work in the computer repair field.