Red River College’s Bridge to Civil Technologies (BCT) program has been recognized with a national award for Best Initiative in the category of Workplace Integration, at this year’s International Qualifications Network (IQN) Awards.

The BCT program — a joint partnership between RRC’s Language Training Centre (LTC) and its Civil Engineering Technology department — was recognized by the federal government’s Foreign Credentials Referral Office for its efforts to improve foreign credential recognition and assessment.

The BCT program was piloted in 2014, and included three components: a five-month gap fill term, a five-month paid co-op term, and Year 3 of RRC’s Civil Engineering Technology program — in either the Municipal, Structural, Architectural or Environmental majors.

Students graduated earlier this month with a diploma in Civil Engineering Technology, and will be eligible for a Certified Engineering Technologist designation from the Certified Technicians and Technologists Association of Manitoba (CTTAM) after one year of Canadian work experience.

Of the 13 students who began the program in January 2014, 12 are already working full-time as civil engineering technologists.

“BCT gave me hope when I was hopeless, direction when I was lost, and recognition when I was nobody,” says program grad Art Zapata (shown above, at top left), a BCT student from the Philippines with degrees in Civil and Structural Engineering.

Kerri Korabelnikov, acting chair of the LTC, says the pilot program would not have been successful without collaboration and support from a number of partners, including CTTAM, Manitoba Start, Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation, Employment and Social Development Canada, and Manitoba Employment, as well as RRC’s Academic Success Centre, Student Employment Services and Enrolment Services staff, and Civil Engineering Technology co-op coordinators.

The College plans to submit a proposal to both Colleges and Institutes Canada (CIC) and Manitoba Education and Advanced Learning, in the hopes of securing funding to offer BCT as a regular academic program.