Southeast College was handed a two percent reduction in the operating grant from the province on Wednesday’s release of the annual budget allocations.

“Whenever there's a reduction, it's never good day, but we fully understand and appreciate the government's objective was to balance the provincial budget, and we as a college were preparing for a two per cent reduction before we knew what the outcome was in the budget,” said Dion McGrath, President and CEO of Southeast College.

He said in spite of the reduction, the college used foresight and has planned accordingly.

“When we go about building our budget, we try to be very prudent, so that we don't get caught surprised,” said McGrath. “Whereas the outcome is unfortunate, we were anticipating something of this nature.”

He said the upside of the budget for the college was that the Ministry of Immigration and Career Training maintained all of their program funding as status quo.

“We're pleased with that because that means we can continue to offer all of the training programs to meet the government's priority areas,” he said

Southeast College has set out to be the most innovative, industry-driven college in the province and this budget does not deter them from identifying new and innovative programming to respond to business and industry needs.

“One of our priorities is to continually be looking to identify and develop new programming and training opportunities that diversify our revenue sources beyond the government sources that we have,” said McGrath. “We're going to continue pursuing those innovative opportunities.”

The College’s plans for innovation and growth over the next fiscal year include a pilot course for 2nd class Power Engineering program in partnership with Great Plains College and SaskPower, obtaining Alberta Common Ground Alliance endorsement for Ground Disturbance training, development of an industry endorsed Heavy Equipment Operator program, implementation and training for Solar Energy, seeking International Student Designation, implementation of the Business Management Essentials program, as well as continued partnerships with the University of Regina to provide additional university options for students in the Southeast region.

The provincial government has continued its support for post-secondary education by supporting scholarship programs, including Saskatchewan Innovation and Opportunity Scholarships (SIOS), which matches the funds raised by Southeast College.

Southeast College is proud to be the Trainer of Choice in Southeast Saskatchewan. The College offers innovative and flexible programming that encourages students to learn where they live.