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History, Affiliations, and Rankings
The institute was established in 1947 as the Conestoga College of Applied Arts and Technology, among various institutions founded in that era by the Ontario administration to provide degrees and certificates in the market and skills-driven courses. It was re-established in 2012 when the government decided to expand the institution’s scope, to provide courses in Information Technology. Today, it is the region’s sole provider of polytechnic education, with more than 50% of the local population accessing Conestoga’s courses and training programs! Conestoga has its Engineering courses accredited by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board. Conestoga’s Bachelor of Applied Health Information Science is the only Bachelor’s course accredited by the Canadian Health Information Management Association. The College is also affiliated with Universities Canada (AUCC), the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) and Polytechnics Canada. Conestoga College ranks 12th in Canada’s Top 50 Research Institutes.
Infrastructure, Campuses, and Courses
Conestoga College has five campuses and training centres located across Ontario. The main campus is located in Kitchener, with other campus locations at Cambridge, Stratford, Waterloo, Guelph and Brantford. Conestoga also has an additional Skills Training Centre at Ingersoll. Conestoga College has 10 Academic Schools offering a diverse range of 300 academic programs in Business, Engineering, Sciences, Culinary Arts, and more. The Brantford campus offers numerous programs in Business, Information Technology, Philosophy, and Crafts. Conestoga College at Stratford offers skill-driven courses and co-ops programs. Ingersoll Training Center is spread over 12,000 square feet and provides training courses in Engineering alongside skilful trades courses. Ranked among the top institutes in Canada, foreign students can now take admission to more than 200 skill-driven courses at Conestoga College.
Accomplishments and Alumni
Conestoga College has about 23,000 students in Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, Stratford, Ingersoll, and Brantford campuses. This institution is a provincial leader in apprenticeship training, with over 50% of the region’s population accessing the College’s courses and training. The co-ops courses at Conestoga allure about 30,000 students each academic year. Conestoga is the only institute to provide polytechnic programs in that region. The College plays the main role in the betterment of the local community - 65% of Conestoga graduates remain in the province after finishing their degree, adding further than $2.3 billion each academic year to the provincial local economy. Two Conestoga graduates, Massi Basiri and Meti Basiri, who are co-founders of ApplyBoard were recently awarded at the 2021 Premier’s Awards, joining the ranks of the most distinguished college graduates in Ontario. Also, Conestoga alumna, Clarice Ward was named among Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 in 2021 by the Women’s Executive Network. Other renowned alumni of this institution are the advertising executive, Vic Fedeli, Ontario politician, and Cabinet member Will Ferguson, Canadian sports journalist, Brenda Irving and former Mayor of Waterloo, Ontario, Brenda Halloran.
Student Diversity and Visiting Companies
About 2100 international students from more than 70 countries are enrolled at Conestoga College. With the College adding newer programs to its course catalogue each year, students will find increased diversity among their peers on the Conestoga campuses. In the daily interactions, students will discover the demographic diversity of the Conestoga College population – professors in college or students in the classes of differing age, maturity, ability, cultural background, gender. Conestoga has more than 3500 students in co-op courses, in which most of the students get placed in fortune 500 companies such as Google, IBM, P&G, Nestle, and others.
