As B.C. prepares for thousands of jobs in the oil and gas sector the B.C. government is providing Northern Lights College (NLC) with $200,000 as it gears up to provide British Columbians the training they need to get a good paycheque in their back pocket.

Minister of Advanced Education Amrik Virk has issued the following statement on International Education Week:

Students at Camosun College and Vancouver Island University who want to learn a trade are getting a helping hand with close to $500,000 in one-time funding for 130 foundation seats in targeted trades training courses during 2013-14.

Twenty open textbooks will be developed for skills training and technical post-secondary subject areas.

Work is underway to adapt more open textbooks for use by students and instructors in British Columbia with an open call for proposals to begin the second phase of the project.

An investment of $2.4 million by the provincial government is helping adult learners around the province improve their reading and writing skills by providing them with the help they need in their home communities.

Government is moving ahead with its commitment to partner with a publicly funded post-secondary institution to develop a school of traditional Chinese medicine.