An enrolment boom at Douglas College has prompted a “preliminary” consideration to expand the school to an empty piece of land across the street at Royal Avenue and Eighth Street.
The college, which owns the property, is in the early stages of looking into a multi-million dollar expansion, according to Dave Taylor, Douglas College director of marketing.
But, he warned, it’s early days.
“It would require many, many stages to go through and years to get to the point where we’d be building over there,” he said.
“We’re full,” Taylor said, explaining the reason for a possible expansion.
“We actually moved an entire department (the faculty of child, family and community studies) to our Coquitlam campus last year,” he said, but the move has had little impact.
“Even with all of those students and programs out in Coquitlam, we’re still full,” Taylor said.
Students are eager for training because there are a growing number of jobs that require a post-secondary education, and there are not enough people to fill them, he added.
“It might not seem like it right now, but it’s coming, and I think people are starting to recognize that,” he said.
The current slow-but-growing economy makes it a good time to go back to school, he said.
The location of the New Westminster campus – it’s close to SkyTrain – and the large number of programs it offers make it a magnet for students. The school also has a number of international students, which they expect will continue to rise, Taylor said.
Douglas College was founded in 1970 in New Westminster. The college offers bachelor’s degrees and general university arts and science courses, as well as career programs in health care, human services, business and creative arts.
Asked how an expansion would be funded, Taylor said it would probably be a combination of provincial funding and college funds as well as fundraising, but noted that it’s too soon to speculate.
