An amendment to legislation in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador has permitted the College of the North Atlantic (CNA) and its affiliate campus, College of the North Atlantic – Qatar (CNA-Q) to grant applied degrees.
“The  ability to grant degrees will assist CNA and CNA-Q in expanding programming and increasing enrolment, and help ensure the College’s ability to meet the growing demand by employers for colleges of applied learning to be able to grant students a degree level credential,” said Gerry Byrne, the minister of advanced education and skills for Newfoundland and Labrador. Byrne is in Qatar to attend CNA-Q’s 14th graduation ceremony today.
“This is a significant step forward for our team in Qatar,” said CNA president Dr Ann Marie Vaughan. “Students will have a pathway that enables them to get a degree, but still be able to benefit from CNA-Q’s focus on applied learning that is so engaging for students and appealing to employers.  It will provide students and their employers with the best of both worlds.”
Dr Ken MacLeod, CNA-Q president, said, “Students and parents have been asking for degrees to be offered at CNA-Q for a long time.  This legislation provides us the opportunity to meet the expectations of Qatar’s youth and their parents, while still maintaining our focus on applied learning and meeting the needs of the workforce of Qatar.”
Dr MacLeod added there are still many details to be worked through; including the structure of the degrees to be offered, when the first class would be enrolled, and which programmes would be included the first year.
“We will be working closely with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in Qatar to meet their requirements so we can move forward on this exciting development as quickly as possible.”
CNA-Q currently offers 30 programmes in four schools:  Information Technology, Business Studies, Engineering Technology, and Health Sciences.

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