Study finds students highly satisfied with northern Ontario colleges

Northern Ontario colleges rankhighwhen it cameto pleasing students and their future employers, according to anew survey byColleges Ontario.

Five of the six northern schools ranked in the top eight inOntario.

Confederation College in Thunder Bay,Sault College, Northern College in Timmins, CanadoreCollege in North Bayand College Boreal in Sudbury all scored above the provincial average of 76 per centin student satisfaction.

The surveyresults are good news forKatherineVilleneuve, a recruiter with the StudyNorth Initiative,because theycoverall aspects of college life.

"Things like teachers, programs, courses, environment, the facilities, residence ...[are]taken into account." she said.

Come to the north, recruiter says

Villeneuvesaid the results from thesurvey are helpful toconvince southern students to come north.

Thegoal isto sign up 50students from southern Ontario,who wouldn't normally have come north for their educationsaid Villeneuve.

The deadline to enroll in acollege-level course is May 1.

"[The schools]have quite a few incentives for southern Ontario students,"said Villeneuve. Those includetravel and entrance incentives, forchoosinga college in the north.

The Study North Initiative is in itssecond of a three year project and is paid for by the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund and the colleges themselves.