Fleming College

A new national post-secondary environmental network was officially formed during a conference co-hosted last week by Trent University and Fleming College.

The Canadian College and University Environmental Network (CCUEN) was created with the official merger of two groups – the Canadian College Environmental Network (CCEN) and the Canadian University Environmental Science Network (CUESN).

The two groups opted to amalgamate because of an increasing national trend in partnerships between colleges and universities, said Linda Skilton, Dean of Fleming College’s School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences. Skilton is the interim Co-Chair, of the new CCUEN, along with Stephen Bocking, Chair of Trent University’s Environmental and Resource Science/Studies Program.

“Students are choosing to take a combination of both college and university environmental programs and they are seeking more pathways between institutions nationally. This new post-secondary network will encourage more partnerships between colleges and universities and will increase our opportunities to network and share more information across the two sectors,” said Skilton. “It may even lead to an official branding of Canadian environmental post-secondary education, which could attract more international students to our programs.”

“Above all,” added Bocking, “the new network will facilitate cooperation as Canadian colleges and universities continue to improve the already excellent array of opportunities they provide for environmental education and research.”

The CCUEN’s mandate was set at the meeting to unify the two networks. It is:

“To encourage dialogue among environmental educators, and to develop education programs and other forms of cooperation between institutions to meet current and future needs for environmental practitioners in Canada.”

The first Annual General Meeting of the CCUEN will likely take place in British Columbia in May 2014. One of the group’s first priorities is to begin to register members for the CCUEN.
 

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For more information:                 

Laura Copeland, Communications Officer, 705-749-5530 x 1370 or copeland@flemingc.on.ca