The holiday season is a time when British Columbians reflect on what the year past has brought them and look to new opportunities that lie ahead. Many will decide the time is right to get post-secondary education and training, and that decision has never been more important.

Canadians will be better equipped for the well-paying middle-class jobs of today and tomorrow with a $22.4 million investment at Vancouver Island University (VIU) to expand the Marine, Automotive and Trades Complex and create a District Geo-Exchange Energy System.

Simon Fraser University students with entrepreneurial ambitions in technology will be able to continue building their skills and developing market-driven products after an expansion of the successful Technology Entrepreneurship @ SFU program.

Canadians will be better equipped for the well-paying middle-class jobs of today and tomorrow as a result of a $40.65-million investment in the new Teaching and Learning Centre and a number of sustainability and infrastructure upgrades at the UBC Okanagan campus.

A total of 85 communities throughout B.C. will benefit from $2.4 million in funding toward community adult-literacy programs that will support adults wishing to improve their literacy and numeracy skills.

Communities in the Fraser Valley will benefit from one-time targeted funding of $177,917 for the University of the Fraser Valley to support adult-literacy programs.

Kamloops will benefit from one-time targeted funding of $256,732 for Thompson Rivers University to support adult-literacy programs.

Communities in Metro Vancouver will benefit from one-time targeted funding of $30,000 for Simon Fraser University to support adult-literacy programs.