The expansion of the Gabrielle-Roy campus of the Cégep de l’Outaouais is coming to fruition. Friday morning, the Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry, announced an investment estimated at $33 million to construct a new two-story building. A necessary project, but which will not be enough to reduce the “pressure” faced with the lack of space in the establishment.
The CEGEP reached almost 98% of its capacity this fall, the “highest rate in the history of the CEGEP,” indicates its general director, Steve Brabant. The only French-speaking CEGEP in the region, it must juggle the popularity of the programs, the lack of space, and the shortage of teachers.
The possibility of an expansion was raised in June 2022, when Quebec gave its authorization to implement three new programs, at the same time providing an envelope of $3 million for the development of plans and specifications for the expansions, which were then estimated at more than $20 million.
The plans are now “almost final”, and management is preparing to launch calls for tenders so that the work can begin in June 2024. They should therefore be completed in time for the start of the 2026 school year, indicates Mr. Brabant.
The first floor, 1000 m2, will include an x-ray room and a mammography room. It will eventually accommodate students from the Radiodiagnostic Technology program, who are currently taking their courses in premises at the Hull hospital. Once the building is constructed, the college plans to continue its collaboration with the CISSS de l’Outaouais (CISSSO), to allow students to experience an “immersion” in the health system.
Mr. Brabant hopes that the investment will allow the program launched in January 2023 to “take off”, because it provides a labor pool for the CISSSO, which “is experiencing a major shortage in medical imaging”. According to him, in recent months there has been a shortage of around “60 medical imaging technicians in Outaouais hospital centers”, and this “despite recruitment efforts”. Witness to the urgency to act, the CEGEP set up the program in just six months.
The second floor of the annex will increase the capacity of the Computer Science program, increasing it from 160 to 215 students. A way to strengthen the region’s reputation as a “pole of IT expertise”, rejoices Mr. Brabant.
Catch up
According to the minister responsible for the Outaouais region, Mathieu Lacombe, the announcement “sends a clear signal that our government is doing everything necessary to ensure that the region obtains its fair share.”
For his part, Mr. Brabant believes that the expansion will “slightly” “reduce pressure”, estimating that even with the new building, the establishment will reach 115 to 117% occupancy by 2032. “The challenge remains just as important. »
The Cégep de l’Outaouais is also “historically behind in terms of programming,” recalls Steve Brabant. According to the Outaouais Development Observatory, the establishment offers 47 fewer programs than other CEGEPs in comparable regions. A gap that the general director wishes to reduce, by implementing “at least 4 to 5 programs in the next decade”. But, he knows, implementing these new programs could attract other students.
By increasing the offer of programs and improving conditions, “that is to say housing and financial support”, Mr. Brabant also hopes one day to “repatriate” the 2,800 Outaouais who left to study in Ontario. This is why the spaces freed up by the computer science program will be redeveloped, to “absorb” part of the demographic growth, i.e. around a hundred students.
Mr. Brabant also told the Duty work on subsequent expansion phases.
But by 2026, if “the pressure materializes”, the director opens the door to “rental options”, without excluding restricting access to the establishment, by limiting more courses. “It’s the last thing we want to do, because we understand that what we want to value is access to higher education. »
This report is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.