A new undergraduate health sciences program has passed through the university senate and is waiting for a decision from the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities according to Suzanne Blanchard, associate vice-president (students and enrolment).
“We are in the last phase in terms of looking at the minister to approve the program,” Blanchard said.
“A lot of programs are very med-school oriented,” Blanchard said. “We wanted to make something that looked at health, and not just medicine.”
Susan Aitken, director of Carleton’s graduate Institute of Health: Science, Technology and Policy said the goal of the undergraduate will be to broaden the limits of medicine.
The program will cover approximately 25-30 courses, with five concentrations, according to Aitken.
The concentrations would be biomedical, global health, environment and health, health across the lifespan, and disability and chronic disease.
The program intends to provide students with essential skills for a wide range of health careers, she said.
Malcolm Butler, dean of the Faculty of Science, said an increasing number of students are interested in pursuing some sort of career in health.
He said there is an estimated admission rate of 100 students per year and it is expected to be one of the stronger programs at Carleton with an entrance average of at least 80 per cent.
The department that will house the program is scheduled to move into the Herzberg addition, which is currently under construction, Butler said.
The program has a proposed start date of September 2014, contingent on ministry approval.
It was submitted to the ministry July 4, 2013, according to senior media relations and issues co-ordinator Gyula Kovacs.
“All new programs must undergo a thorough analysis, including a review of proposed tuition, proposed funding, institutional fit and duplication, and demand,” Kovacs said via email. “As a result, it is difficult to predict how long it will take to approve a particular submission.”
