Educational opportunities continue to grow and evolve at Winkler's Red River College campus as specific needs arise in the region.

Regional Campus Manager, Joanne Unrau explains they will always add individual continuing education courses as the demand arises.

"We had a request from a particular group to have a welding course for them and they had the enrolment to make it worthwhile, so we did what we had to do to make it possible for them," said Unrau, adding they are always planning for what they see coming in the future and regularly consult with the Pembina Valley Strategic Council, which is made up of members from the various industries and businesses in the area. 

"So we do have those discussions, "where are your needs? What do you see in the future? How can we be helpful?" We're trying to create that dialogue so that we are providing what the region needs."

Two programs that were added this school year to meet a specified need were the Early Childcare Education and Early Childhood Education Workplace Programs.

"When we review the types of childcare situations we have, the need for ECE-2 Certified Childcare workers was high, so that was a good place to start to fill the needs within the region."

Meanwhile, Unrau says they have started the process of preparing for the Bachelor of Nursing program that will have its first intake this coming fall. "So we were promoting, making sure we were offering all the prep and admission requirement courses for local people to be able to fulfill the admission requirements."

Related article: Bachelor Of Nursing Program To Be Offered Locally In Winkler