The Ontario government is supporting Loyalist College in their goal to provide unparalleled support to their students and be on the cutting edge of advancement.
Bay of Quinte MPP Todd Smith, along with Hastings-Lennox and Addington MPP Daryl Kramp announced on Friday morning the provincial government is providing Loyalist College with $2.8 million in funding for this school year.
The funding will help the school modernize across the board said Loyalist College President and CEO Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan to the dignitaries, students and staff in attendance at the announcement.
Dr. Vaughan says the investment in Loyalist will help ensure students have everything they need to succeed in their post-secondary journeys and give graduates a competitive edge.
“So we can do some of this stuff within our funding and our budgeting, but these types, this type of funding is true leverage and it really allows us to fast track things so we can get things done for our students and for new programs and service to our community.”
Some of the upgrades are already underway, specifically in the culinary wing, and work will be done in phases says Dr. Vaughan.
“It’s a new, modern, state-of-the-art part of Loyalist College which is critical to how we support our students.”
Programs which are seeing upgrades include the culinary program, modernizing the health and wellness centre.
MPP Todd Smith says this funding will help modernize learning.
“The investment is going to help Loyalist acquire lab equipment for health and food sciences and applied research, replace and upgrade items used in programs like nursing, massage therapy, paramedics and dementia studies. And also address key on-campus infrastructure like generators, and this one hits home for me, improving electrical capacity here on campus.”
Smith says Loyalist College is very important to our region and staff really listen to the community’s need and is able to pivot in a way in which only a small school can.
MPP Kramp called Loyalist College a regional asset and stated the funding will not only benefit the school, but the students, staff and the area as well.
Dr. Vaughan said embracing their small size has really been their biggest advantage as they were able to support the creation of 25 new programs last year alone.
The funding is part of the government’s pledge of $583 million over three years to colleges and universities in Ontario to maintain and renew their facilities and buy state-of-the-art instructional equipment.
