The North Island College Story

In 1975, North Island College was established as a result of a collaborative agreement between four school districts and the Ministry of Education. Dr. Dennis Wing was appointed as the College’s first principal. With a small and dispersed population to serve in coastal towns and villages, NIC initially opted for a distance education model with outreach operations that took the college to the people. Delivery methods, in an era before cable and satellite television, as well as before internet communications, included mobile units and a short-lived experiment with a 160 ft ex-whale catcher ship, the Samarinda. The college earned a well-deserved reputation as a leader in open learning.

 

 

Dr. Neil Murphy joined North Island College as its President in 1990, and started the process of building physical campuses to serve the regions. The Comox Valley campus opened in 1992, followed by Port Alberni’s Roger Street campus in 1995 and the Campbell River campus in 1997. North Island College’s third President, Dr. Lou Dryden also joined the college in 1997.

Programs and services have continued to flourish. While distance education remains one of the course delivery options available to students, the focus has shifted to traditional face-to-face instruction.

 

 

Trades, technology and vocational programming have also grown. In 2004, North Island College offered its first undergraduate degree in Nursing in collaboration with Vancouver Island University (formerly Malaspina University-College), which was soon followed by a degree in Liberal Studies, also with Malaspina, and a Fine Arts degree, in collaboration with the Emily Carr University of Art + Design. In 2006, North Island College was granted approval to offer its own degree – the Bachelor of Business Administration, with an Accounting major – the first rural college in the province to be accorded that privilege.