The Red River College (RRC) Campus in Winkler is in full swing again this fall with 85 students registered in full-time programs.

According to Joanne Unrau, Acting Regional Campus Manager, there are 16 students enrolled in Business Administration, 13 students in the first offering of the Early Childhood Education program, 25 enrolled in the Health Care Aide programs between the Morden and Altona locations, and 20 students enrolled in the Educational Assistant program.

Some program changes have also taken place this year. The campus will not be offering Dental Assisting this year, and instead, will run the new Early Childhood Education and the new Bachelor of Nursing programs.  

Unrau explained that the college is taking a break from the Dental Assisting program, which would have enrolled about 12 students.

"We have not ruled out that we will have Dental Assisting in some capacity. We've taken a one-year cessation and we are assessing how we can meet the meets of the region. There was a preliminary assessment done, and within the region, there was not the student enrollment, nor necessarily the jobs at the end of that program to support the full program. But we are looking into different ways of maybe offering that program so we can still meet the regional need," she said.  

The college is currently preparing for the Bachelor of Nursing program, and applications are being accepted right now.

"We will be hosting a rural Bachelor of Nursing program here at our campus, so the first year is going to start in the fall of 2018... applications go through the Nursing Department in Winnipeg," said Unrau.

"I'm really hoping that it's something that will grow. Initially they're accepting six seats I believe in the BN, and in that second year they'll take in four more LPN and BN, so for a total of ten in that first class, and I guess we'll see how that goes and whether or not they want to increase enrollment," she added.

Another new program for the Winkler campus is the Early Childhood Education Program, which started this fall.

"I think that it has been received very well. We've spent some time talking to industry to find out days that would work out best for them. We've created a hybrid program where we'll be working with our workplace and full-time at the same time, that seems to be a better fit for the industry when they're looking at compensating for staff being gone for education," she said.

Unrau added they have enthusiastic instructors that are completely dedicated to the field.

Related article: RRC Puts Winkler Dental Assisting Program On Hold, Adding Early Childhood Education