Alberta Minister of Education Demetrios Nicolaides speaking at Lethbridge College, March 8, 2024. (Photo: LNN)

By Justin Goulet with files from Joel Mendelson

Collegiate program helps strengthen trades education

Mar 8, 2024 | 1:19 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Government representatives and school division stakeholders gathered at Lethbridge College Friday morning to learn about the Southern Alberta Collegiate Institute (SACI).

The SACI is a unique partnership at Lethbridge College, teaming the local post-secondary with six school divisions and two nonprofit organizations.

The goal of the SACI is to give students the opportunity to explore different career pathways.

Alberta’s Minister of Education, Demetrios Nicolaides was on-hand for Friday’s event. He said, “Right now, of course, we have career and life management, which is a component in high school.”

“We want to look at ways to perhaps strengthen that, or just create a stronger focus on career education and the development of career skills.”

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School divisions involved in the partnership include:

• Palliser School Division
• Lethbridge School Division
• Holy Spirit Catholic School Division
• Horizon School Division
• Westwind School Division
• Livingstone Range School Division

Nicolaides hopes the program will help encourage more students to consider a career in the trades and hopes to see more of the collegiate-style partnerships established across the province.

He stated, “I think programs like the collegiate that we see here are truly exceptional because they help expedite a student’s journey – of course a lot of them are earning credits for their post-secondary while they’re in high school, so the more that we can do to expedite someone’s pathway and journey, the faster they can fill some of those labour market shortages.”

In April of 2023, the school divisions received over $6 million in funding from Alberta Education to create the initial partnership with Lethbridge College and Career Transitions.

READ MORE: Alberta investing to expand opportunities in trades in Budget 2024

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