NSCC waiting lists growing, MLAs told

Nova Scotia Community College needs millions of dollars in additional funding in order to meet the growing demand for training, its president says.

Joan McArthur-Blair told a committee of the legislature Wednesday that some people are waiting far too long to get into their desired program.

"There's no question in my mind that the college needs to continue to grow," she told the MLAs on the public accounts committee.

"We are not meeting the demand in health care.… We are not meeting the demand in some trades. We are not meeting the demand in some of the arts programs."

Applicants are being asked to wait up to three years for some programs, such as medical laboratory technology, despite a shortage of workers in the field, McArthur-Blair said.

She said the college would like to make room for at least 2,000 more students over the next five years. To do that, she said, the provincial government might have to add $16 million to the college's budget.

The college has about 10,500 full-time and 15,000 part-time students.

McArthur-Blair said the school needs to grow both to meet the demand for programs and to satisfy the needs of Nova Scotia's economy.

Education Minister Judy Streatch agrees that training should be a top priority for the province.

She hopes there's extra money for the college in the upcoming budget, though there may be other less expensive ways of creating new spaces, she said.

"We have to be very creative in how we provide the programming that we do," Streatch said.

"We can do multiple shifts, can certainly do off-site. Those are some of the pieces I think that people are asking us to be creative about, and some of the discussions I've had with the folks as well."