Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell (fourth from right) is pictured during his tour of Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific, where he met with students from British Columbia, who are attending the college on full scholarships awarded by the provincial government. From left to right: Clare McNamee-Annett, Pearson College director David Hawley, Rebecca Walker, Carter West, Jacob Schweda, Minister Coell, Graham Reeder, Nessa Kenny and Lindsey Doehle.

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Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell (centre), president Lou Dryden (left), space science and astronomy program instructor Ron Evans (on screen) and distributed learning supervisor Albert Balbon get a first-hand look at the province’s only university-transfer science lab course offered entirely online. Students taking the space science and astronomy program online can download images of the universe using the Tatla Lake observatory located on the on the Chilcotin Plateau. The minister toured both the Comox Valley and Campbell River campuses and met with students and faculty in the region.

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Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell tours Malaspina University-College’s Nanaimo campus with president Rich Johnston. Johnston is retiring next year after more than 20 years at the institution – the longest-serving president at Malaspina and the second longest serving president in any public post-secondary institution in British Columbia.

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Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell (right) is shown around the Centre for Shellfish Research by director Don Tillpaugh while on a tour of Malaspina’s Nanaimo campus. The facility houses dry labs with analytical equipment to process samples, and wet labs with tanks for rearing shellfish under experimental conditions. Growth for B.C.’s shellfish aquaculture industry is projected between $20 million to $100 million annually by the year 2010.

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Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell (left) with culinary arts students during a tour of Northwest Community College’s Terrace campus. Also pictured is co-ordinator Randy Chalifoux (second from left) and college president Stephanie Forsyth (third from right). The program leads to a one-year certificate or a two-year diploma, and the students prepare meals from the first day of classes, serving them to campus staff, other students and Terrace residents.

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Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell (second from left) speaks to Terry Rendek, president and project manager of T.A. Rendek & Associates, general contractors for the new academic and trades building at the Cranbrook campus of the College of the Rockies. Also pictured is Serge Lacroix, the college’s manager of facilities and construction (left of the minister), and college president Nick Rubidge (right). The Province has contributed more than $15 million towards the new facilities, which will combine teaching and study space for academic and trades training programs.

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Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell (second from left) speaks to Serge Lacroix, College of the Rockies manager of facilities and construction (left of the minister) at the future site of the college’s new academic and trades building at the Cranbrook campus. Also pictured are Terry Rendek of T.A. Rendek & Associates, general contractors (to the minister’s left) and college president Nick Rubidge. Cranbrook mayor Ross Priest (second from right) is also pictured speaking with a reporter covering the minister’s tour of the College of the Rockies.

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Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell (centre), Justice Institute of B.C. president Jack McGee (right of the minister), and Bruce Hall, chair of JIBC’s board of governors, learn about firearm safety from instructor Mike Campbell (far left). The Justice Institute of B.C. offers education, training and related services in justice and public safety throughout the province. Coell visited the gun range during his tour of the JIBC campus in New Westminster.

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Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell (left) views the emergency scene management simulation with adjunct instructor Ron Lepchuk (middle), and instructor Al McLeod, with JIBC president Jack McGee in the background. The simulation model is one of many methods used to train responders for major emergencies including plane crashes, fires, chemical spills and kidnappings, as well as longer-term incidents that require more intensive investigations – for example, terrorist threats.

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Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell (left) speaks to Mackenzie Reid (far right), a student in the aircraft maintenance program at the University College of the Fraser Valley. Also pictured is Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General John Les (centre). Coell visited the UCFV hangar at the Abbotsford Airport during his tour of the Abbotsford and Chilliwack campuses of UCFV.

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Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell (centre) tours the Abbotsford campus of the University College of the Fraser Valley, accompanied by UCFV president Skip Bassford (left) and academic vice-president Wayne Welsh (right).

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Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell (centre) tours the proposed new Education Park (formerly CFB Chilliwack). From left, UCFV board chair Rob Nicklom, the minister, Environment Minister and Chilliwack-Kent MLA Barry Penner, Chilliwack mayor Clint Hames and Abbotsford-Clayburn MLA John van Dongen, who is also Minister of State for Intergovernmental Relations. The proposed site is B.C.’s first educational partnership of its kind and includes the City of Chilliwack, UCFV, the UN-based World Trade University, two Chinese universities and other business partners.

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Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell tours the Kamloops campus of British Columbia's newest university. Formerly University College of the Cariboo, Thompson Rivers University is providing students across the province with new and expanded access to post-secondary options and degree completion since being given status as a teaching-focused university on March 31, 2005. TRU has a regional focus, with its main campus in Kamloops and several satellite campuses and centres around the central Interior. TRU also has a provincial mandate to provide open learning access through distance education and flexible degree-completion options.

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