Image Credit: Government of British Columbia
May 07, 2015 - 4:28 PM
KAMLOOPS – After years of lobbying the first class of millright students is expected to begin at Thompson Rivers University this coming August,
The Ministry of Advanced Education recently announced it would fund 16 seats for a millwright program at the university.
A millwright is a tradesperson concerned with the construction or installation of industrial machinery. These are skilled workers able to read blueprints or schematics in order to assemble equipment. In layman terms, a millwright is an industrial carpenter.
A collaboration with NorKam Secondary School, the NorKam Trades and Technology Centre will serve as training grounds and the program will be operated and instructed by university faculty. The goal is to grow the program to include pre-apprenticeship through fourth-year apprentice courses.
“Millwright is one of the top-priority trades in B.C. and it is so exciting to bring this opportunity to Kamloops,” Dr. Lindsay Langill, the university’s Dean of Trades, says. “Being able to expand our local trade offerings to students and apprentices in this region is vastly important because we are surrounded by industries relying on millwrights.”
This announcement comes on the heels of the B.C. government’s latest promise to provide $6.1 million and 1,429 additional seats in trade schools across the province for the up-coming 2015-16 school year. The government has identified trades training as a matter of priority. In total $7 million was spent during the 2014-15 school year for 1,488 trades in addition to $4.4 million for equipment.
The province expects that by 2022, 44 per cent of the expected one million job openings will be in the trades.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Dana Reynolds at dreynolds@infonews.ca or call 250-819-6089. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015