A new program was unveiled at Great Plains College yesterday evening in front of an excited audience during the Swift Current Chamber of Commerce's first 'Chamber on Tap' of 2017.

New to the college is a 2-year diploma program in Business Management. The diploma program will encompass more of an in-depth class-load. Great Plains College officials and instructors say they are excited for this to help build on the current 1-year Business Certificate in place at the college, which is more of an overview to the business world.

Brian Gobbett, Director of Programs at Great Plains College, explains positive community feedback helped the program move forward, as they surveyed and discussed the program with local businesses.

"The market research we did really encouraged us to go forward with this. We’ve had very, very strong enrollment over the last two or three years in our certificate program – roughly around 20 students. We’re going to look to that group of students in the first year to try and populate the diploma program," he said.

Gobbett also showed excitement about the potential the extended program has to showcase local business students, as well as local businesses themselves.

"We're trying to think of ways in which we can partner together with local businesses and they can identify people that might want to work for them, or maybe have internships or projects that relate to local businesses. It's a really good opportunity both for businesses to have an eye on some of our students as well as for our students to have an eye on where they want to work as well," he said.

John Wentworth, an Instructor in the Business Program, shares what this program means to business students.

“The big benefit is obvious – it keeps a lot of students in the community to do two years here. I think it’ll be a nice little stepping stone for a lot of the students who’ve even taken the first-year certificate program prior to this year,” he said.

The 2-year diploma program joins the current 1-year program as being brokered through Sask Polytechnic. Currently, those students taking the 1-year program will have course credit to enter into any of the six 2-year diplomas that Sask Polytechnic offers.

For Wentworth, the new 2-year diploma program has opened a door to those students in the southwest corner of the province looking to further expand their business education.

"Whether they’re considering going out for a 4-year degree, or if they’re planning on finishing the diploma and staying here, I think that will be a good motivator to get people to stay here and do the management diploma program. It also bridges in nicely to the B.Comm (Bachelor of Commerce) programs around the province," he said.

The first year of the Business Management diploma program will be next school year, starting September 2017. Applications for fall-entry into the program are currently being accepted for both 1-year and 2-year programs.

Visit the Great Plains College website for more information on the 2-year Business Management program, as well as registration and entrance scholarship opportunities.