Canadá: Education grant helps non-traditional students get a university education at Wilfrid Laurier

América del Norte/Canada/03 de Julio de 2016/Autor: Joe Pavia/Fuente: CBS News

RESUMEN: Treinta estudiantes no tradicionales – incluyendo los nuevos canadienses, indígenas, personas con discapacidad y los trabajadores desempleados de más edad – tendrán la oportunidad de ir a la Universidad Wilfrid Laurier gracias a una subvención de $ 400,000 de la Fundación Lyle Hallman de la región de Waterloo.
El programa, que es una colaboración con el Centro de Trabajo en el centro de Kitchener se basa en un exitoso proyecto piloto financiado por la Facultad de Artes de Laurier.
Los estudiantes no tradicionales generalmente tienen diferentes necesidades que los estudiantes que acaban de terminar la escuela secundaria, explicó Bob Sharpe, profesor asociado en Geografía y Estudios Ambientales en la unidad de tráfico, que también enseña el curso de introducción a la participación de la comunidad.
«Han sido marginados en algún aspecto, ya que no tienen los ingresos, [el primer] idioma no es el Inglés, [son] los refugiados recientes o que simplemente no venían de familias que animaron a sus hijos a ir a la Universidad, «dijo Sharpe.

Thirty non-traditional students – including new Canadians, Indigenous people, people with disabilities and older unemployed workers – will have an opportunity to go to Wilfrid Laurier University thanks to a $400,000 grant from the Lyle Hallman Foundation of Waterloo Region.

The program, which is a collaboration with The Working Centre in downtown Kitchener was based on a successful pilot project funded by Laurier’s Faculty of Arts.

Non-traditional students generally have different needs than students who have just completed high school, explained Bob Sharpe, associate professor in Geography and Environmental Studies at WLU, who also teaches the introductory course to community engagement.

«They’ve been marginalized in some respect because they don’t have the income, [their first] language is not English, [they’re] recent refugees or they just never came from families who encouraged their kids to go to University,» said Sharpe.

First cohort will start in September

The Working Centre will identify two cohorts of 15 who will go through a specially designed two-year program to ease the transition into full-time learning.

The first 15 students will begin a preparatory period this September at The Working Centre, explained Sharpe.

Then in the winter semester, they will begin their part-time studies with a university-level course at The Working Centre, taught by a WLU faculty member, and a second course in the spring at the Laurier campus. Once students have completed those two introductory courses, they can take three other courses at Laurier.

Then at the end of the two-year specialized program, the once non-traditional students can continue their studies at Laurier or some other post-secondary institution, and continue working towards a bachelor’s degree.

Interested applicants are encouraged to contact The Working Centre, or Wilfrid Laurier Univeristy this summer.

Fuente: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/wilfrid-laurier-university-bursary-working-centre-1.3660762