The Province of Alberta recently announced $21 million dollars in capital maintenance and renewal funding for Olds College.
Demetrios Nicolaides, Minister of Advanced Education says the funding will be divided into two initiatives.
"There's $6.2 million to redevelop the James Murray building and $15 million to expand the Animal Health Technology Labs at Old's College. These renovations and revitalizations will help address program growth and anticipated enrollment growth, as well, as help to further advance the College's mission and specialization in terms of exploring the application of technology to agricultural practices."
He notes the funding will allow the College to create a new Ag Tech Learning Hub where students and teachers will be able to partner with industry on new technology for smart and sustainable agriculture.
Stuart Cullum, President of Olds College, says they're super excited.
"Those two investments really allow us along with the donor support that we received, and other investments to move forward on two major construction and renovation projects that will increase capacity for students, and allow us to deliver new programming in agriculture technology.
He notes that there's a strong interest in Agricultural programming with enrollment up 15 per cent year over year last year.
"Our enrollments are continually going up, now COVID might cause a little bit of a blip in that. The general trend is towards increasing interest and applications and enrollments. What we're also seeing is an interest in new kinds of programs, that's where our agriculture technology programs are so important. There's a lot of interest in the way in which technology and agriculture work together and how that needs to be supported through education and training, as well as applied research."
Cullum says work is expected to begin shortly with completion expected in 2022 and 2023.
Olds College is known for high-tech, hands-on agriculture education and innovative applied research that lays the foundation for solving real-world problems in farming, food and land. The College offers programming in Agriculture, Horticulture, Land and Environment Management, Animal Science, Food Production, Business, Fashion, and Trades & Apprenticeships.
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