(Long) Distanced Learning

CAT’s Network Administration Specialist program is expanding – all the way to India.

Did you know that CAT is partnering up with a company called Wingz to deliver our NAS program in India?

The idea is that the students in India can complete the first year of our NAS program in India, and by then should be able to come to Canada to complete the NSS program at our partner, Vancouver Community College.

This partnership is a really cool new avenue of business, as it is trying to adapt to the pandemic and the inability for international students to come to Canada.
How did the idea come about? Did they approach us or did we approach them?

Have we ever worked with Wingz before?

Our new President, Jeremy Sabell, has always sought new ways to expand the educational reach of The Education Company.

In recent years, he has been responsible for the expansion of Stenberg College beyond its campus in Surrey, and now he is doing the same for both Stenberg and the Centre.

While we haven’t worked with WINGZ before, we are partnered with them on our NAS program, as well as a business program that Stenberg college offers.

As NAS is a popular program for international students, we thought it vital to bring it to India in a time when International students are not permitted to travel due to the COVID pandemic.

India seems to be an important location for educational institutions – what are the reasons for this?

I think a lot of this comes down to the sheer demographic size of India. India currently boasts 1.3 billion people, and approximately 200 million of those fall in the normal demographic of our college.

How will the program be delivered to India?

WINGZ will be providing what they call a “Learning Hub,” which is essentially a college classroom space for the students to use. This space will have high speed internet, and all the IT requirements for online remote-delivery.

We will then deliver our education in much the same way we did during our campus closure for COVID, through the use of MS Teams. In fact, it was the COVID campus closure that gave us the confidence that we could deliver the program to students throughout the world through an online platform.

Is virtual delivery the wave of the future? Especially considering the current covid situation? Remote delivery certainly isn’t new, but the COVID pandemic is making it much more important to both schools and students throughout the world.

In fact, ten years ago, CAT had a dedicated remote delivery classroom, and we used it to supplement many of our programs. At that time, it was not a popular option, and students preferred being in a classroom with an instructor. This pandemic has certainly adjusted perceptions though, and we are now seeing students embrace online remote delivery.

The key for CAT is that we deliver our education with a live instructor at a scheduled time, keeping the high quality experience very similar to the classroom experience. Will we continue to offer online courses, yes. In fact, we have applied to the Ministry of Advanced Education to permanently have the ability to delivery NAS, NSS and VHA in an online format.

NAS is a popular program for international students, we thought it vital to bring it to India in a time when International students are not permitted to travel due to the COVID pandemic.”

Matt Redmond, Education Director, CAT

How long have CAT and VCC been partnered?

CAT and VCC started working together about six months ago; VCC was looking for specific program offerings for their Continuing Studies Department, and based on CAT’s successful partnership with Langara, we were a logical partner. The process is slow, as VCC has a lot of work to do with their different administrators, but we believe they will be ready to deliver our programs in 2021.

How many students are we hoping to attract for the first cohort?

WINGZ believes that they can attract 20 students for the first cohort, and are aiming to have them ready to start in October alongside CAT’s regular October intake.

This cohort for WINGZ will be completely separated from the local CAT students, as we will need to deliver the classes very late in the evening in order to provide the students in India with an appropriate time to learn. Currently, we are looking at teaching from Surrey between 9:00pm-1:00am, Sunday to Thursday.
With the time difference, this will mean students in India will be in class from 9:30am-1:30pm, Monday to Friday. It is a unique challenge, but one our instructors are excited about.

Are there any cultural or professional considerations/differences between NSS in Canada and India, or is it a global industry? One of the great parts about our program is that it closely follows the standards of global industry, be it Cisco, Linux, Microsoft, Google, etc.

In taking this approach, graduates of the program have the ability to work around the world; CAT Kelowna has had graduates move to India, to Israel, and to San Francisco for work. Graduates of this program in India will then have the choice to remain in India and work with a Canadian Diploma, or continue their education in Canada with the potential for a Post Graduate Work Permit and eventually Permanent Residency.

This program will open a lot of doors to those enrolling in it.
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You can find out more about WINGZ at https://www.wingzstudyabroad.com/