Private career and training school Canadian Business College is investing in a new Mississauga campus near Square One as part of a new growth strategy.
“It’s going to be the first campus we’re upgrading,” the new owner and CEO John Nelson told YourMississaugaBiz.com. “And we’re going to use that as an example as we upgrade the other campuses.”
Nelson said CBC’s Mississauga campus is getting a brand new facility in their existing building on City Centre Drive that will offer more classrooms for lectures, more meeting areas and upgraded computers.
“We haven’t made a firm decision yet, but perhaps everyone will have an iPad,” he said, stressing the school wants to use technology that is relevant to the current workplace.
In addition to the extra space and upgrades, the Canadian Business College is also investing in new course offerings as well as focusing more on entrepreneurship, IT, data analysis and digital media.
Nelson’s growth plans also include expanding the instructor base, as well as investing more in career, job placement and alumni services. “I’m confident we’ll grow our student base very aggressively as a result,” he said.
Nelson said Mississauga and Brampton’s “professional kind of population” are attracted to the school’s course offerings to help them establish themselves in Canada quickly. “Given that the job market is so competitive, we feel our courses can offer Indo-Canadians, new Canadians, anybody that wants to get ahead in the job market, really good job-based training.”
The college president said new immigrants to the country that may have master’s or law degrees or doctors are coming into the economy and looking at professional types of work to get into. “I wouldn’t say they’re trying to take a shortcut or skip certifications, I think they’re trying to be as efficient as possible,” he said.
Nelson also noted the growth in the province’s service economy, and said it represented three-quarters of the economic activity in Ontario.
With three campuses in downtown Toronto, Scarborough and Mississauga, Nelson plans on eventually expanding to places in the GTA like Brampton and Oshawa. “In areas where there’s a lot of change in the job landscape and job training becomes really important, we can play a big role in those sorts of areas,” he said. “Perhaps even another location in Mississauga.”
Nelson declined to disclose the total number of students currently enrolled at the college.
Before Nelson was president and owner of the college, he held management roles at Kaplan Inc. and the American Farm School in Greece. Nelson was also a director at American Express in New York and was the general manager at Nexacor’s Canadian division for six years. The MBA graduate of Harvard University’s Business School grew up in Baltimore and went to school in Philadelphia, but now resides in Toronto.
Karen K. Ho 