By Justin Goulet (@JustinGoulet21)

Lethbridge College’s Geomatics program gets national accreditation

Apr 4, 2019 | 12:07 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Thursday marked a monumental occasion for Lethbridge College.

The school’s Geomatics Engineering Technology program received its certificate of national accreditation from Technology Accreditation Canada (TAC).

Geomatics engineering brings together surveying and mapping. Students use technologies such as global positioning systems (GPS) and satellite image analysis. Future career opportunities include roles as a natural resources technologist, survey party chief and mapping technologist, among many others.

“Our audit team comes out and does a pretty thorough review of the program and assesses it against standards that the profession sets and ultimately the final decision of the audit team is this (program) complied in all of the standards (with) flying colours,” said Richard Stamper, TAC’s Executive Director.

Stamper said the national accreditation gives students even more confidence in the program than they may have had before.

What's Happening in Lethbridge this week: December 2-8, 2024

Dec 02, 2024

What's Happening in Lethbridge this week: November 12-17, 2024

Nov 12, 2024

What's Happening in Lethbridge this week: November 4-10, 2024

Nov 04, 2024

“Employers obviously want to know that students coming out (of the program) have the right skills and I think the faculty feels that ‘look, we’re delivering a program that meets the standards and we have that confidence that the team is delivering that type of program’,” he said.

“The other added benefit for the students is that if they go on to get their professional certification through ASSET, there’s an expedited path to doing that, they don’t have to right an exam. So, that’s kind of an added bonus in terms of what accreditation means.”

He said the accreditation gives Lethbridge College the opportunity to further promote the program.

“If you’re a parent, you would want to know your son or daughter is going to go into a program that has had an independent review, so that third party has come out and assessed it and given you a sense that this is at a certain standard, so I think there’s that confidence from a parental point of view.”

Stamper said that many schools across Canada are catering to international students, and accreditation will help draw more students in from not just within, but outside of the country.

“Sure, the local Lethbridge resident might come to Lethbridge College but somebody that’s in India or China…they have a lot of options. Something like a nationally accredited program might be a real draw for them and I think that’s important and it’s an opportunity to market it that way,” he explained.

The Geomatics program is the 63rd program that TAC has accredited. Stamper said two other programs at Lethbridge College are set to receive accreditation soon, the Civil Engineering Technology and Engineering Design and Drafting Technology programs.

He added that technologists and technicians have a strong impact on the economy.

“We know of engineers and we know of sort of skilled trades people, and they’re very valuable parts of that engineering team, but technicians and technologists are also valuable. They don’t seem to be the group that seems to get the recognition or at least even sort of be as well known for their contributions and it is very significant,” he said.

“We need to do a better job as a profession in promoting that. That’s one thing that we’re working on…our next part of our strategy is to go out to industry and start to explain ‘what is accreditation, what is certification, what’s the value of technicians and technologists?’”

The chair of Lethbridge College’s School of Engineering Technologies, Bill Smienk said the accreditation is great news for the school.

“The students in the Geomatics program are well sought after in terms of their skills and abilities, we do a lot of hands-on training, so we provide the types of training in the areas of not only land surveying but also GIS and digital mapping so we use some of the latest technologies,“ Smienk said.

“When they come to learn at Lethbridge College they’re leaving with a lot of skills that employers are looking for and a lot of our students tend to go places in Western Canada but they go all over Canada and abroad as well.”

Smienk said the industry is “completely dependent” on a skilled workforce and this particular program teaches those necessary skills.

For more on Technology Accreditation Canada, visit www.technologyaccreditation.ca/Landing and for further details on the Geomatics Engineering Technology program, go to lethbridgecollege.ca/programs/geomatics-engineering-technology.