Collaboration benefits high school students

Oshawa, ON - Agreements between Durham College, the University of Ontario Institute of Technology and three area high schools will help prepare students for post-secondary study.

The agreements, known as EdConnect@Durham and EdConnect@UOIT, provide links between the two post-secondary institutions and J.Clarke Richardson Collegiate and Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School in Ajax and Dunbarton High School in Pickering.

Designed to raise awareness among students, teachers and parents of post-secondary opportunities within the region, the agreements include opportunities for classroom exchanges between secondary and college teachers and provide for shared professional development opportunities. High school students will be able to observe specific college or university classes and receive help in identifying academic pathways leading to specific post-secondary studies.

The presence of a college admission liaison officer at Dunbarton has already proven effective and under the agreements this initiative will be expanded to the other two schools.

"We have opened the way for secondary school teachers and administrators to be well informed about post-secondary choices, particularly college," said Gary Polonsky, President Durham College and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. "At the same time college teachers will gain more insight into changes in the school system. The result is that students will be better prepared to make informed educational choices.."

The agreements will be reviewed annually to evaluate effectiveness and opportunities for expansion.

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Media contact:

Carol Beam
905.721.3216
e-mail: carol.beam@dc-uoit.ca

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