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This article was published 18/09/2010 (4635 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Assiniboine Community College has been forced to postpone its fall intake of industrial welding apprentices after the program’s instructors expressed concerns about the readiness of their teaching space.

The 21 students who signed up for the college’s Level 1 and Level 2 industrial welding program were turned away from the eight-week classroom course earlier this month because their instructors felt the program’s classroom and shop space at the new Len Evans Centre of Trades and Technology were not ready.

“Our faculty came back (from vacation) and were getting into the process of setting up the shop and they raised a number of issues which they felt needed to be addressed in order for the space to be ready for teaching and learning,” says the college’s new president, Mark Frison. “From our perspective, we wanted to make sure it was ready to go to offer a quality product.”

In the days leading up to the program’s original start date of Sept. 7, instructors pointed out that the shop’s gas lines has not been purged and the pressure in its manifold system had yet to be tested, Frison said.

Those issues were just two of at least a half dozen that compounded in the weeks leading up to the college’s decision to cancel its first intake, says the college’s dean of trades and technology, Barry Gooden.

“The welding shop is one of those shops that have to be absolutely perfect from the beginning from the end, otherwise it could be a dangerous situation,” he said. “Honestly, there must have been about six or seven things that just weren’t falling into place and we had to make a decision. There’s just no way we can run this course until these things are functional.”

The costs associated dealing with the program’s postponement were negligible, Frison said, adding that the reimbursement of the handful of the students who travelled distances to come to Brandon, only to turn around and return back to work, was the only real expense.

The shop should be up and running in time for the college’s second 2010-11 intake on Nov. 1, Frison noted, with the affected 21 students who missed their fall course rescheduled for a spring intake.

However, he said it “won’t really put them behind, in the grand scheme of things” because they have simply returned to their workplace to continue putting in the required training hours with their employer.

All other programs offered at the Len Evans Centre for Trades and Technology started on schedule on Sept. 7.