Nova Scotia Community College
Nova Scotia Community College or NSCC is a Canadian community college serving the province of Nova Scotia through a network of 14 campuses and three community learning centres.
The college delivers over 130 programs in five academic schools: Access, Education and Language; Business and Creative Industries; Health & Human Services; Technology and Environment; and Trades and Transportation. Introducing roughly 20,000 students a year, NSCC provides the majority of technical and apprenticeship training in Nova Scotia.
NSCC includes four specialized institutes: the Nautical Institute, the School of Fisheries, the Aviation Institute and the Centre of Geographical Sciences.
The president of NSCC is Don Bureaux. They employ about 2,000 people.
History
In 1872, the Halifax Marine School was established. While it would later become the NSCC Nautical Institute, it then represented the first vocational and technical education institution in the Province of Nova Scotia. It was the first in a number of specialized training institutions around the province that offered education in areas such as agriculture, surveying, engineering and navigation.In 1987, the Department of Vocational & Technical Training published a White Paper recommending the creation of a community college system for Nova Scotia. The establishment of the system, it was argued, would bring technology, vocational and upgrading institutions together under one umbrella and allow for the development and coordination of college programs and services at a province-wide level. That would work to meet both pan-provincial and local economic and applied education needs.
In 1988, Nova Scotia became the last province in Canada to create a community college system, which brought 16 institutions together into one college system. In name, it became the predecessor to NSCC; however, it would be several years until NSCC was established in its current form.
In 1992, two more campuses joined the college system from their respective school boards, followed by in 1995 the Nova Scotia Teacher's College closed and became an NSCC site.
NSCC became autonomous from the province in 1996 by incorporating itself as an independent institution with a Board of Governors.
Since then, the NSCC network of campuses has evolved into a province-wide, community-based, community college, with polytechnical, applied arts and health science educational programs.
Campuses and locations
The Nova Scotia Community College occupies 14 campuses, located in:- Bridgewater
- Dartmouth
- Halifax
- Kentville
- Middleton
- Port Hawkesbury
- Shelburne
- Springhill
- Stellarton
- Sydney
- Truro
- Yarmouth
The Centre of Geographic Studies, often referred to by the acronym COGS, is part of Annapolis Valley Campus and is located in a separate site in Lawrencetown.
There are also two Community Learning Centres located in Amherst and Digby.
The Strait Area Campus also offers programs in Wagmatcook First Nation at the Wagmatcook Learning Centre.
On November 27, 2017, the province of Nova Scotia and NSCC announced plans to relocate Marconi Campus to downtown Sydney. The specific location, on Sydney's waterfront, was announced by the province of Nova Scotia and NSCC on August 2, 2019.