Red Deer MP Earl Dreeshen says he is very pleased with expansions made at Red Deer College over the last two years.
Dreeshen visited the college on Thursday to see how the institution had used money from the federal government’s Knowledge Infrastructure Project Fund.
“It’s so important for us to see the kinds of dollars that were spent here and to see it working,” Dreeshen said.
The Knowledge Infrastructure Project was launched in 2009 in response to the global financial crisis and its impact on Canada’s joblessness.
The government gave $2 billion to post-secondary institutions across the country to fund up to half the cost of renovations, until March 2011.
RDC received $4.5 million between the federal program and provincial funding.
“It enabled us to improve our services to our students, improve the teaching and learning process and it elevates the student experience,” college president Joel Ward said.
Among the programs benefiting from the funding is the hospitality and tourism management program.
For 20 years, before money was available to upgrade facilities, students were taught in trailers outside the college.
“It was very small, very old and it wasn’t very good,” said Brenda Hodgins, an instructor in the hospitality and tourism management program. She said students in the old kitchen would have to work back-to-back and share a single small-load dishwasher.
The new kitchen that opened in January 2010 is larger and features state-of-art technology, including separate wash areas for pots and other dishware.
It also boasts designated change rooms so students no longer have to change in public washrooms, a practice Hodgins said was unsanitary.
Upgrades to the hospitality and tourism management program have occurred in stages.
A mixology lab opened in May and a dining room opened in September. Ward said the new facilities provide a better learning experience for students.
“We had some students who were in the trailer who finished their program in (the new facility) and they thought they’d died and gone to heaven,” Ward said.
Funding was also used to upgrade the college’s academic advising service and open four new centres.
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