St. Clair College is getting over $650,000 from the provincial government to boost apprenticeship training.
The funding comes from the Apprenticeship Capital Grant program and will be used to modernize equipment at the Ford Centre For Excellence at the South Windsor Campus.
College president Patti France says the funding will replace some of the college's CNC machines.
She says the college is fortunate and blessed to have support and receive the funding.
"We continue to try and make sure that the equipment our students use is a the forefront and that's obviously a heavy lift at times so the $650,000 was very much appreciated," she says.
France says it's important for the college to have the latest equipment.
"We want our students being trained on the latest and the greatest," says France. "We don't want them to have old equipment and then go to a shop floor and say what is this, what does that button do, what is this machine doing. We want them to basically not miss a beat and we want to support the local industry to make sure that they have strong employees for their companies."
Windsor-Tecumseh MPP Andrew Dowie and St Clair College President Patti France at the college's South Windsor Campus for a funding announcement, September 15, 2023 (Photo by AM800's Rob Hindi)
Windsor-Tecumseh MPP Andrew Dowie made the funding announcement at the college Friday morning and says after speaking with companies in the industry last fall, he learned there was a need for new equipment.
"The voice of industry mattered, the voice of academia mattered and we're actually seeing some results from that effort to listen and to learn about the circumstances that we had and delighted to see St. Clair is a recipient of one of the first funds allocated as a result of that consultation," says Dowie.
The college hopes to have the new equipment up and running by January.
The province says The Apprenticeship Capital Grant program is designed to improve and modernize equipment and training facilities that support hands-on learning for students and apprentices.
In a release, the province says "the investment will help people be trained for fulfilling and well paying careers in skilled trades."