Study finds students highly satisfied with northern Ontario colleges

Northern Ontario colleges rank high when it came to pleasing students and their future employers, according to a new survey by Colleges Ontario.

Five of the six northern schools ranked in the top eight in Ontario.

Confederation College in Thunder Bay, Sault College, Northern College in Timmins, Canadore College in North Bay and College Boreal in Sudbury all scored above the provincial average of 76 per cent in student satisfaction.

The survey results are good news for Katherine Villeneuve, a recruiter with the Study North Initiative, because they cover all aspects of college life.

"Things like teachers, programs, courses, environment, the facilities, residence ... [are] taken into account." she said.

Come to the north, recruiter says

Villeneuve said the results from the survey are helpful to convince southern students to come north.

The goal is to sign up 50 students from southern Ontario, who wouldn't normally have come north for their education said Villeneuve.

The deadline to enroll in a college-level course is May 1.

"[The schools] have quite a few incentives for southern Ontario students," said Villeneuve. Those include travel and entrance incentives, for choosing a college in the north.

The Study North Initiative is in its second of a three year project and is paid for by the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund and the colleges themselves.