New post-secondary in-person education program launches in Whistler

WLC and BCIT offering face-to-face courses in Whistler, Fall 2020

The Whistler Learning Centre has collaborated with BCIT and Tourism Whistler to deliver small cohort, condensed, accredited courses in-person at the Whistler Conference Centre starting in September.

During the unprecedented challenge of Covid-19 the Whistler Learning Centre (WLC) has continued to engage with community, business, and education partners to deliver relevant educational information in Whistler. As a result of the WLC’s continued collaboration with BCIT, in the Fall of 2020 Whistler will be the location of seven face-to-face 1st year university courses in the area of business and media that will be taught by local instructors.

Using the large meetings rooms of the Whistler Conference Centre, students will meet in safe classrooms for high quality accredited courses that are transferable to many other post-secondary institutions in Canada. The full list of courses can be found on the WLC website here.

Over the past year the WLC and BCIT have offered a successful series of business courses in Whistler. Then, the global pandemic added new challenges:

  • Face-to-face course offerings in Canada’s post-secondary classrooms would be severely limited for the remainder of 2020
  • Many people didn’t want just online education so they would defer their plans for education
  • Whistler is projecting less tourist visits than normal during this period and is experiencing an employee shortage

The WLC and BCIT acted to explore the unique opportunities for Whistler:

  • Following the guidelines and rules of BCCDC and Worksafe BC, classrooms in the Whistler Conference Centre will be able to hold up to 20 students
  • Each course takes place over 2 weeks with 3 consecutive days (M,T,W) of face-to-face classes
  • Students can choose from any or all of the courses. The schedule permits students to complete the equivalent of a full-time semester of university transferable courses.
  • Locals and visiting students can use Whistler businesses, work for Whistler businesses, and, stay in pre-arranged reasonably priced accommodation

The WLC is pleased to be a part of Whistler’s response to the global pandemic. As a non-profit charitable organization, the WLC continues its roles of:

  • Assisting other learning based organizations and individuals achieve their aspirations
  • Striving to be an umbrella organization for enhanced learning opportunities in Whistler
  • Building educational opportunities in Whistler that meet the objectives of Whistler’s 2020 Official Community Plan
  • Supporting the community vision – “A place where our community thrives, nature is protected, and guests are inspired”

This new initiative is a demonstration of the strong relationship the Whistler Learning Centre has forged with BCIT and a successful collaboration with local stakeholders that will benefit the local community, economy, and students across BC.

Our thanks to the teams at BCIT, Tourism Whistler, Whistler.com, and Whistler Sport Legacies’ Athlete Centre for their work and collaboration to bring this program to Whistler.