The Southeast College has received considerable interest for the first-year classes that it will offer through the University of Regina (U of R) this year.
The college will offer English 100, Indigenous studies 100, sociology 100 and biology 140 at its Estevan, Weyburn and Moosomin campuses this fall. A live instructor will be located in Weyburn, and the course will be live-streamed to learners in Estevan and Moosomin.
“We are really, really excited that we will be offering first-year U of R classes this fall, starting in September,” said Sheena Onrait, the college’s manager of marketing and communications.
She said the courses will be fully interactive, with students able to ask questions, see the instructor and see the other classrooms.
The dates and times for those four classes are listed on the college’s website.
“If there are students that are interested, or might be interested, and are wondering ‘how is this university class is going to fit with my schedule,’ or ‘can I make it work with my part-time job,’ they can go onto the website and have a look, and I’m sure they’ll find out that they can fit in at least one or two within their schedule,” said Onrait.
This marks the first time in nearly a decade that the college has offered first-year classes through the U of R. Onrait believes it’s a great opportunity for students to take one to four post-secondary classes, and not have to travel to Regina.
It’s also a huge advantage for the college and for the students to be able to offer these classes over three campuses.
Onrait said these courses were selected after Louise Legare, the vice-president of education, went online and found the most popular first-year core university classes. Then she worked with the flexible learning department at the university.
“We definitely have room left, so if there are students that are on the fence, and they are considering maybe taking one or two university classes to kind of get their feet wet and get back into school, or even if they just graduated high school and they want to test the waters with a university class, we would really encourage them to give us a call,” said Onrait.
At one time, the college had more first-year university classes in the regional college system. For whatever reason, Onrait said interest tailed off. Enrolments declined while interest in the trades spiked.
But now they’re getting more calls to resume those courses.
So they believed now was a good time to deliver a set of post-secondary classes close to home.
Cost-savings is the biggest reasons to study close to home, she said, as the college estimates it’s about $10,000 less to study close to home versus staying on campus.
“The small class sizes are another key benefit,” said Onrait. “Having the support of your parents and your peers and your family at home is another big one. A lot of our students, in the past, were able to work part-time and do some community work while still taking a lot of their core first-year classes.”
Four more classes will be offered in the winter: English 110, film 100, mathematics 101 and religious studies 100.
“Students will be able to enroll in those right away as well,” said Onrait.
An orientation session for new students will be held at all three campuses on Aug. 22 at 1 p.m. Any students registered for classes, or who might be interested, are invited to speak to student advisors, and learn what they can expect about taking university classes.
