Fanshawe College Applauds Expansion of Specialist High Skills Major Program

Fanshawe College applauds the recent news of an expansion for the Specialist High Skills Major program, and the College actively targets prospective students in this customized program to visit our campuses.

The Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) program lets students focus on a career path that matches their skills and interests while meeting the requirements of the Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD). The program allows students to customize their learning in the SHSM sector of their choice while gaining important skills through the completion of identified major credits, co-op, reach-ahead activities that help them make informed choices about future careers, and participation in industry recognized certifications, such as WHMIS, first aid and CPR.

On June 11, 2012, the McGuinty government announced the addition of 4,000 more students to the SHSM program at 670 high schools across the province. Next year, 38,000 students will be able to participate in the program.

"Fanshawe College supports any initiative aimed at assisting high school students find their passion prior to arriving at our campuses," said Robert Kitchen, Student Success Leader. "The SHSM program creates a great opportunity for students to envision a career pathway and should generate some rewarding partnerships between colleges and high schools as well."

Fanshawe is currently in the process of contacting local high schools that offer SHSM to invite students on campus for a tailored tour to show them options of where their education could be headed and to showcase the College's facilities. These campus visits can count as one of the SHSM completion requirements as a reach-ahead activity.

Fanshawe also offers opportunities for local secondary school students to earn credit towards their high school diploma and their post-secondary education through the School College Work Initiative Dual Credit programming.

"The School College Work Initiative program helps students succeed and reach their full potential," said Tom Pickard, Manager of Continuing Education. "At the moment, Fanshawe offers three different models of dual credit programming: level one apprenticeship training, day away courses where students attend College one day a week, or School Within a College (SWAC) where students are on campus five days a week."

All of these models allow students to earn high school credits toward their OSSD and college credits toward a college certificate or diploma program at the same time. Dual credits can be an integral component of any SHSM program and Fanshawe currently offers many dual credits that count toward SHSM completion.