La Cité Collégiale, a French-language vocational college in Ottawa, recently announced its new campus in Orleans would be ready to welcome new students this month.
The Minto Trades Centre, where construction courses will be held, can accommodate between 350 and 750 students, according to the school’s department of recruitment and communications.
Renée O’Neill, the school’s recruitment and communications director, said in a French email interview construction began in 2009 and was finished this summer. She said many of the construction programs were full and demand has kept rising.
“Many of our trade programs in construction are already at full capacity,” O’Neill said.
“This year, applications to trades programs have increased by 25 per cent,” she said. “Numerous construction workers are going to be retiring in the next few years. We need to replace them.”
While no other new campus locations have been discussed, a “phase two” addition to the new building and an expansion of the main campus are now under discussion, said O’Neill.
She said the expansion was done in Orleans because many La Cité students live in the heavily francophone suburb.
According to a school press release, La Cité Collégiale has about 135,000 students in 90 programs, 50 of which are taught in French nowhere else in Ontario.