Province invests $16 M in new engineering school at UPEI
University officials say the design engineering program will be unique in Canada
The P.E.I. government has announced $16 million dollars for a new school of design engineering at UPEI.
Senior management at UPEI spent the last couple of years researching what specialized program would attract students.They also looked at needs in the labour market across Prince Edward Island.
Graduates of the new four year program will be equipped to work in technology development in bioscience, IT, renewable energy, and the aerospace industries.
University officials say the program is unique to Canada.
Students will be doing more project based learning, according to Libby Osgood, a professor of engineering at UPEI.
"All types of engineering involve design...they all involve some bits of mechanical, electrical and this is really integrating all of those different subjects together," said Osgood.
"So the students who graduate from here are going to be able to go out and work in pretty much any industry because they know how to learn, they know how to approach a problem and how to solve a problem. So it's not specific. It is so beautifully broad."
Students will graduate with a Bachelor of Science in sustainable design engineering.
Of the $16 million dollars the province is investing, $4 million will go towards the operating costs of the new engineering degree and $12 million will go towards the construction of a new building to house the program.
ACOA is contributing close to $6 million.
Ground work for the new building will begin next week with construction slated to be complete by the fall semester of 2016.