BY JELANI GRANT
The Sheridan College Trafalgar Campus is making progressive changes to their technology and professional studies programs, starting next semester.
Sheridan College Associate Vice President Dr. Has Malik hosted a meeting at the Trafalgar Campus to discuss the number of advancements the college has been working towards for the new year. Joining Dr. Malik was Sheridan Outreach Campaign Strategist Hayder Sultan and Program coordinator Marcella Mosal.
Dr. Malik announced the campus is pushing towards a bigger and better technology program beginning in January. Sheridan will begin a program with Cisco beginning in January. They have also established a marketing HUB for their website to be launched in it’s ‘phase 1’ on November 28th. “We decided on moving to a HUB…It gives you a narrative of where technology is going and this is where you may want to fit into it.” The HUB can also be used to create dialogue to connect the faculty with students. “It’s important that we know what the community is asking for.”
Before the end of March, Dr. Malik said Sheridan intends on launching an IOS development program that will involve all Apple products
Dr. Malik also said they are proud of the recent development of the Health & Wellness faculty. After launching in the fall, Malik says their yoga program has done very well and praised Sultan for leading the recent partnership with Canada’s IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau). “We’re the first post-secondary station in Canada to have an agreement with IAB Canada.”
The IAB is the governing body that specializes in advertising, guaranteeing the quality when presenting the school’s programs to potential students.
Mosal discussed Sheridan’s new program with Cisco. “CCNA stands for Cisco Certified Network Associate and is the entry level for some of the network technicians and industries in new companies.” She said after completion of the CCNA, students can register for CCNP (Cisco Certified Network Professional), a higher-level engineering position. Dr. Malik said they will continue to give the programs “Short credentials, keeping with the fact that we know, most of the people we’ll be working with will be busy and they want to keep it short to get out into the marketplace.”
Most of these new programs are ready for launch, but Sheridan is currently working with IAB to recreate their marketing strategy to better communicate with their community.
Set in the lakeside city of Oakville, just west of Toronto and populated by over 180,000 people, Sheridan College’s Trafalgar Campus has a population of more than 7,500 students. Greater engagement with this area and their students is one of the primary areas Sheridan intends to focus on in the near future.
The intention of the info session was to deliver the message that Sheridan is going through a number of developments and is rebranding their marketing strategy to better communicate and appeal to the community. “We’re here to serve the community. To make sure that when they take our program and [finish], they are marketable.”
Dr. Malik noted that veterans in the field of marketing are falling behind because they are not keeping up with current technology. To prepare industry newcomers for the modern demands of the work field, the school is offering a multilingual information session on Nov. 12th from 10 a.m. until noon at the Hazel McCallion Campus. The session will offer guests information regarding their programs, registration for free professional development workshops, as well as speeches from Sheridan alumni and distinguished guest speakers.
