Paramedicine leads way in off-Island enrolment

Pat Healey

The Paramedicine program at Charlottetown Centre leads all other classes in the number of out-of-province students, according to statistics compiled by Holland College's registrar office.
The numbers also show there are 139 off-Island students attending Charlottetown Centre. Registrar Sylvia Poirier says ATHI/CIC is in a different category.
"We have a lot more students attending ATHI/CIC who are off-Island," she says.
Poirier says the number of off-Island students could be attributed to the recruiting efforts of student recruiter Maria Driscoll. She starts recruiting in the second week of September by visiting all the schools in the Maritime region. She also visits Newfoundland once or twice a year.
"We do a lot of marketing and recruiting, so that's the reason," Poirier adds.
Poirier notes the Paramedicine program, which had 225 applicants apply for the program's 21 seats, has the most out-of-province students of all Charlottetown Centre programs.
"At Charlottetown Centre, one program that is highly sought after is the Paramedicine program and one reason is that it's the only accredited paramedic program in the eastern part of the country," Poirier explains.
"We also have many off-Island students in Dental Assistant, Journalism, Photography and Visual Communications. I think the reason they do is they've establish a good track record for turning out top grads. They're top programs so they draw more students from away."
She points out the computer program is also well-developed, but that the majority of its students come from P.E.I.
"Accounting, Business and Computer Services tend to draw less off-Island students because many community college's offer the same courses," Poirier says.
"I think all programs are well developed and people like to do hands-on stuff."