UFV is going to see a new diploma in Fall 2020 called the Digital Manufacturing diploma. The diploma will look to address the industry’s need for digital talent by offering a class that is structured to focus on problem-based learning.
The program will include 3D modelling, computer numerical controlled machines, fabrication strategies, and much more. It will employ a learning-based system model, where students will be given a problem to solve with the help and expertise around them, if needed, instead of a lecture-based class.
“The application, the places where this [diploma] is relevant is going to be in places you can’t even think of right now,” John English, the dean at UFV’s Trades and Technology Centre, said. “I think when we get some students here with this background they are gonna blow us away. We are going to have a hard time keeping up with them.”
English said that the provincial government provided funding for post-secondary schools that were able to create ideas for technology seats.
“I think the objective was to generally increase the accessibility and the choices for programs that help people launch into careers in the technical field,” English said.
UFV has been preparing for the Digital Manufacturing diploma for two years and was able to stay within the budget estimations of the program.
UFV has an area created specifically for the program at the Trades and Technology Centre in Chilliwack that will have new specialized equipment and materials to work with. There is also a lot of technology already in place in the trades areas. For example, the carpentry department has a computer numerical control (CNC) router that students can have access to if needed.
The government has provided UFV with around half a million dollars in total, some of which will be used to buy new equipment that is needed. The local industry has also been supportive of the program and has donated UFV materials and surplus items. A plastic shop in Langley has given the university a few truckloads of cut-off ends of huge plastic pieces to use in classes.
The diploma will require a broad range of professors from different backgrounds, but the professors already at UFV will be able to use their expertise and knowledge to help students within the program. There will be one new staff member added next September who will have expertise in manufacturing itself.
Since the courses will be based more on solving problems in class instead of having lectures, UFV is currently working to see how this diploma would transfer to other degrees at UFV and other universities.
“I’m hoping that they [universities] will be a little more receptive to the idea that I’m not just bringing in someone who has just mastered a particular topic, but someone who can actually think themselves out in real time what they are faced with. That said, we are working with other parts of this university internally to see that some of these would be recognized for transfer credit,” said English.
Image: Karen White/The Cascade
