Monday May 13, 2024 | LANGFORD, BC [Updated 6:45 pm]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Some time has passed since the west shore campus of Royal Roads University (RRU) has been in the news.
Construction is coming along.
Today a site tour was hosted by RRU President Philip Steenkamp, along with Camosun College President Dr Lane Trotter and University of Victoria President Kevin Hall.
Along on the tour were local MLAs Mitzi Dean (Esquimalt-Metchosin) and Ravi Parmar (Langford-Juan de Fuca) as well as Sooke School District 62 (SD62) board chair Amanda Dowhy and City of Langford Councillor Keith Yacucha.
The campus will begin serving about 600 students in its first intake after opening and will grow to serve an estimated 1,300 students at full capacity.
“The low-carbon concrete is poured, and the mass-timber beams are in place. We can’t wait to have students here next year,” said RRU President Dr Philip Steenkamp. He emphasized the business and environmental science components of RRU programs.
“The West Shore Campus in downtown Langford is really taking shape and will help address the growing need for access to post-secondary education when it opens in 2025,” said Camosun College president Lane Trotter.
Expected to open for the 2025/26 academic year, the post-secondary campus is spearheading a new style of educational delivery, and will be the first of its kind in BC.
It will be home to programming from the University of Victoria, Royal Roads, Camosun College, the Justice Institute of BC, and high school students within Sooke School District (SD62).
That gives an opportunity for each post-secondary institution to have a fair shot at maintaining future students within their programming.
The campus is expected to feed local high school graduates into local post-secondary from the west shore area as a way to assist education affordability for families.
Provincial support:
MLAs Ravi Parmar (Langford-Juan de Fuca) and Mitzi Dean (Esquimalt-Metchosin) say exciting progress is being made on construction of the West Shore Post-Secondary Campus site, announced in 2022 with a provincial government investment of over $77 million toward the $98 million project.
“Students in the west shore have shown us the need for a campus that is closer to home, that will expand opportunities for learning in the community,” said Parmar. “This is an initiative I have been supporting for over a decade and a half, it’s exciting to see this project becoming a reality,” said Parmar, who chaired the SD62 school district board for about nine years.
“Students and youth in our community learning at SD62 schools will benefit immensely from having a new place to learn and grow when they pursue their post-secondary education,” said Mitzi Dean, MLA (Esquimalt-Metchosin).
“This campus is going to provide both opportunities for students and for local professors and educational staff, and it’s great to see it getting closer to the finish line,” said Dean.
Fast-growing region:
The west shore region of Greater Victoria is one of the fastest-growing regions in BC. Offering post-secondary in a location that is not in the Victoria/Saanich core is expected to be financially helpful to families.
The campus will be home to undergraduate education and professional and continuing studies. Students will be served from the local area — Langford, Colwood and Sooke, as well as View Royal, Metchosin and Highlands. First Nations in the area include Songhees, Esquimalt, Malahat, Pacheedaht, SC’IA⁄NEW, and T’Sou-ke.
SD62 has worked hard over the past decade to make education more inclusive for students who self-identify as Aborginal.
Langford partnership:
The City of Langford is a key partner in this project.
The municipality is contributing important funding for the project to be built, as well as for parking and nearby road infrastructure, land for the site, development and support for the Innovation Studio.
The initial announcement about a new RRU campus in Langford was made in summer 2022 by then-Premier John Horgan and then-mayor of Langford Stew Young.
===== RELATED:
Foundational day for Royal Roads West Shore campus (February 1, 2023)
Post-secondary education expanding for students on the Westshore (August 3, 2022)
NEWS SECTIONS: POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION | SD62 – WEST SHORE
===== ABOUT THE WRITER:
Island Social Trends Editor Mary P Brooke has been covering news of the west shore since 2008 and board-level news of the SD62 school district since 2014. She ran for SD62 trustee in 2022.
After covering the COVID pandemic daily during 2020-2022, Ms Brooke had reported with the BC Legislative Press Gallery. In 2023 she was nominated for a Jack Webster Foundation award for contributing to her community through professional journalism.
In 2024 Mary Brooke launched Urban Food Resilience Initiatives Society which guides municipalities and communities in the growing of natural foods in urban spaces.