Fanshawe College celebrating 50 years

Fanshawe College of Applied Arts and Technology first opened its doors on Sept. 5, 1967.

Previously known as the Ontario Vocational Institute, the college was one of 19 community colleges established by the provincial government.

Fifty years later, a lot has changed.

“There would have been two buildings, about 720 students, studying a handful of programs,” said president Peter Devlin.

“Advance 50 years to today, we have a host of buildings, 43,000 students, full-time and part-time, and over 200 different programs. The growth has been amazing, and it has been centred on labour market needs.”

Even now, Fanshawe continues to grow, but Devlin says growth for the sake of growth isn’t the goal.

“I think we have a good size, but we do continue to grow. One of our strategic goals is a very deliberate enrollment management. We’re not driven by growth, we’re driven by being the appropriate size to meet student needs and to make sure that our students graduate into jobs,” said Devlin.

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“Every single program at the college has an advisory group. These program advisory groups are made up of industry partners. They tell us which industries need these people, and need these skill sets. They’re the ones who help us keep our programs vibrant, alive, tweak them, and they alert us to brand new programs as well.”

As for helping students graduate and get jobs, Devlin says Fanshawe is one of the best.

Devlin hopes the college will continue to educate young minds and graduate industry-ready workers.

“I wonder about how many students in the future will graduate with their own job because they’ve been innovative and they’ve been creative. We put a lot of energy on that front to look at what the graduate of tomorrow will look like and the skills that they will need to be successful.”

On Saturday, Fanshawe will officially celebrate its 50th anniversary.

“It is a festival, it’s a reunion, it’s a party, it’s a celebration. It’s centred at Budweiser Gardens. We have three great acts. Our headliner is Hedley. We also have the Barenaked Ladies, and a young Canadian group called Brave Shores,” said Devlin.

More than celebrating, Devlin says 50 years is a time to look ahead.

“We want to look powerfully forward into the future where we believe we have great relevance, continue to meet labour market needs, and continue to thrive in London and southwestern Ontario,” said Devlin.