TOWES awarded new federal contract to assist in foreign credentialing

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada approved funding in December, 2006 for BVC’s TOWES to develop an online Essential Skills curriculum that will assist immigrants with professional-level credentials improve their employment prospects and earnings potential. The new learning tools will improve the Essential Skills levels for immigrants in reading text, document use and numeracy ensuring their skills are at a level required for safe and productive work in Canada.

The tools will be piloted by 120 individuals working with six immigrant-serving organizations across the country in the fall of 2007 and winter of 2008. Completion of the pilot is slated for March 2008.

The launch of this program continues to demonstrate the federal government’s commitment to ensuring new Canadians receive the training they need, and it reaffirms the government’s confidence in Bow Valley College as the key provider for this type of program.

"For years, Bow Valley College has been providing skill development programs to highly educated   immigrant professionals using a variety of instructional techniques,” says TOWES director Conrad Murphy. “We have incorporated   an Essential Skills approach to the training and this has resulted in more than 90 per cent of our graduates securing employment in their field. Bow Valley College is pleased to lead the development of an online learning program pilot that can assist immigrants in upgrading their Essential Skills either before they come to Canada or after they arrive,” Murphy explains.

He adds that this will have a direct impact on the earning potential of the new Canadians. “Essential Skill levels are closely tied to earning potential. National studies conducted by Statistics Canada have found that individuals’ essential skill levels are the single biggest predictor of earnings, even more than education and work experience.”

The online curriculum developed for this project will be designed using authentic workplace documents and will correlate to the Essential Skill Profiles developed by the federal government.