After establishing itself with a part-time, temporary campus in Boyle several years ago, Portage College is expanding its footprint in the community and in the business of producing trained employees for the oil and gas industry.
Last Tuesday, officials from the college hosted an open house at the Boyle Community Centre and also took the public on guided tours of the campus – better known as the Pipeline Training Centre (PTC) – which is located south of Boyle.
Close to 50 people, including potential students, interested members of the public as well as those that will employ PTC grads, came out to the event, according to Portage College’s community liaison Terry Mudryk-Harbarenko.
It was at the open house where college president and chief executive officer Trent Keough explained that work is being done to expand the course offerings at the what will soon become their eighth campus and build permanent structures at the site. Presently, there are trailers that house the students and provide space for the classrooms, simulators and other equipment.
“We want this campus and make this Pipeline Training Centre something that others will truly model their programs after and we should be building now to sustain the industry,” he said.
“To meet the high demands for pipeline workers, we should be building now to be ready in two years. We not want to sit back in what is a lull right now, we want to be producing as many trained people as we can.”
Keough added the college is thankful for the tremendous support they have gotten from Boyle, how they have embraced the benefits and also sees the PTC playing an important part in where the future of the industry is heading.
“It is critically important for Canada that we are seen as sound developers of our natural resources,” he stated.
“The better trained the people who work on the pipelines are, the better protectors of the environment we will have and I really see this centre becoming a place where those for and against pipelines will come together.”
An example Keough used would team up people with different backgrounds to find new ways to detect and prevent leaks.
“It is that kind of competing interests, that kind of compliance that will be needed in the future,” he added.
Keough believes this is a rare opportunity to produce a world-class training facility, where the best trades and technology can be produced and set the standard for industry in the heart of where the future lies.
Locally, Mudryk-Harbarenko feels the event brought awareness to the community as to what is available.
“As a community liaison for the college, I am absolutely thrilled to see it built here,” she said.
“The building of our college in this community is an extremely important piece of infrastructure for the future of our northern rural Alberta communities and a huge access to students. There is no better place to study than right alongside pipeline alley and close to Fort McMurray.”
