Kwantlen University College

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Kwantlen University College (usually abbreviated to Kwantlen) is a degree-granting undergraduate university college with four campuses located in the South Fraser region of British Columbia’s Lower Mainland.

History[edit | edit source]

Beginnings[edit | edit source]

Kwantlen College formed in 1981, by splitting from Douglas College.

In 1995, the province of British Columbia enacted legislation changing the institution's name to Kwantlen University College and allowing it to begin granting academic degrees.

The name “Kwantlen” means “Tireless Runner” and is derived from the Kwantlen First Nation tribe that established its home in the regions served by Kwantlen. The name Kwantlen was chosen by Stan McKinnon who won a contest to name the new school.^[1]

Expansion and growth[edit | edit source]

Transition to university[edit | edit source]

In 2005, Kwantlen began lobbying elected officials at the municipal and provincial levels, as well as various key community leaders to support its efforts to become a special purpose university. Removing "college" from its official name would require approval from the government of British Columbia. Many Kwantlen students support the move to drop the word "college" from the Kwantlen name as it will help enhance their credentials and ease their ability to transfer into graduate studies and other endeavours. In its case for special purpose university status, Kwantlen says the change to Kwantlen University would^[2]:

• Enhance Kwantlen's ability to help British Columbia become the best educated, most literate jurisdiction in North America; and
• Bring multiple benefits to the fastest growing region in BC and help BC achieve long-term growth and prosperity.

In 2007, Murray Coell, Minister of Advanced Education and Minister responsible for Research and Technology was joined by special advisor Geoff Plant, to release the Campus 2020 report that recommends Kwantlen University College become Kwantlen University, a regional university.^[3]

AUCC membership[edit | edit source]

Along with its efforts to become a special purpose university, Kwantlen is also seeking membership in the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, also known as AUCC ^[4].

Although AUCC is not an official government accreditation body, its standardized membership benchmarks and requirements that member institutions must meet indirectly serve to ease a student's ability to transfer from undergraduate to graduate programs across Canada and the world.

Academics[edit | edit source]

Profile[edit | edit source]

For the 2006 academic year, Kwantlen had an enrollment of more than 16,000 students^[5].

Kwantlen's region (Richmond, Delta, Surrey, White Rock and Langley) has a population of over 775,000 ^[6] and to serve it the BC provincial government funds 8,500 full-time equivalent student spaces (FTEs)^[7], which is the lowest level of FTEs per capita in the province, at less than 60% of the provincial average.

Faculty and employees[edit | edit source]

Faculty and staff employees number over 1,400 ^[8]. While some faculty are also involved in research, their primary role is undergraduate education.

In 2007, Kwantlen University College was named one of Canada's Top 100 Employers, as published in Maclean's magazine, the only community college in Canada to receive this honour.^[9]

Undergraduate[edit | edit source]

Kwantlen offers bachelor's degrees, associate degrees, diplomas, certificates and citations across a wide range of programs in fine arts, humanities, science, social sciences, applied communication, business, nursing, as well as a number of technical and trade programs.

Cooperative education[edit | edit source]

Several diploma or degree programs in Kwantlen offer cooperative education^[10]. Such programs include dedicated work-placement semesters that match their field of study, in addition to regular studies.

Program transferability[edit | edit source]

Kwantlen offers many transferable courses to other educational institutions, which often lead to direct transfers into second-year or third-year studies at other post secondary institutions. To aid in this, Kwantlen is a part of the BC Transfer Guide Website, an online resource for planning and understanding transfer in the BC post-secondary education system.

New program development[edit | edit source]

Additional major and minor programs are under development in anthropology, business, fine arts and geography.^[11]

Other programs[edit | edit source]

CELTA at Kwantlen[edit | edit source]

CELTA - The Cambridge Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults is the most widely recognized certification in the world for English language teacher training. CELTA is a highly practical course which aims to give people with little or no previous training, the knowledge, awareness and skills to begin a career in the field of English language teaching. Over 7000 candidates took the certificate in 2004 in over 250 centers worldwide. Features of the course (formerly known as CTEFLA or RSA Prep.) include:

• worldwide recognition in the field of English language teaching
• trainers who have undergone a rigorous trainer-training program
• inspection of every course by an assessor from the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate
• full-time and part-time courses
• a highly practical course with a concurrent practicum observed by the course trainers
• small classes with a low trainee/trainer ratio (6:1)

The course is highly practical and it focuses on teaching English to adult classes at beginner to upper intermediate levels. The course aims to:

• teach the principles of effective teaching
• provide a range of practical skills for teaching English to adult learners
• give hands-on teaching practice
• build confidence in new teachers.

There are five main units of learning:

• Learners and teachers, and the teaching and learning context
• Language analysis and awareness
• Language skills: reading, listening, speaking and writing
• Planning and resources for different contexts
• Developing teaching skills and professionalism.

Student life[edit | edit source]

The Kwantlen Student Association or KSA is an elected student body that contributes to community life, and allocates student funds to social, cultural and entertainment programs for students. Through the KSA students and other members of the Kwantlen community are also eligible for special discounts including bus and train passes; discount movie tickets; and other seasonal offers.

In 2005, Kwantlen launched an interactive component of the official Kwantlen website called The Digital Cafe, which features a number of promotional videos, music by Kwantlen students and photographs that highlight Kwantlen programs as well as student life on campus ^[12].

Campus[edit | edit source]

Campus Locations[edit | edit source]

The currently operational campuses of Kwantlen are located at: ^[13]

• Cloverdale Campus: 5500 - 180th Street, Surrey, BC
• Surrey Campus: 12666 - 72nd Avenue, Surrey BC
• Richmond Campus: 8771 Lansdowne Road, Richmond BC
• Langley Campus: 20901 Langley Bypass, Langley BC
• Newton Campus: 13479 - 77th Avenue, Surrey BC

Campus expansion projects[edit | edit source]

Kwantlen is currently involved in two major building expansion projects. The first expansion is underway on Kwantlen's main Surrey campus, where constructing a new wing aims to increase the building size by 11,000 m², or by 42% of its current size. ^[14]

The second project is the construction of a new campus in Cloverdale, a 17,200 m² building designed replace the aging Newton campus, and capable of holding over twice the amount of students^[15]. The first phase of this campus opened in January 2007^[16].

References[edit | edit source]

All information taken from the Kwantlen University College website retrieved in December 2005, unless otherwise specified.

See also[edit | edit source]

• List of institutes and university colleges in British Columbia
• List of universities in British Columbia
• Education in Canada

External links[edit | edit source]

• Kwantlen University College Official Website
• Kwantlen Student Association Website

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