When Katerina Shortt entered Russia’s Saint-Petersburg State Architectural and Construction University in 1986, the economy was doing well and finding work wasn’t a problem.
Then perestroika hit. “It was good for freedom, but not so good for the economy,” says Shortt, now upgrading her credentials at Lethbridge College. “Nothing was being built.”
After eight years of training, Shortt was qualified as a civil engineer and spent a year working in her native Ukraine as a project estimator, but work was scarce. So, after meeting her husband Brad online and moving to Lethbridge,
Shortt assumed she’d fall comfortably into the hot provincial economy. But her qualifications weren’t fully accepted by ASET, the Association of Science and Engineering Technology Professionals of Alberta.
So, after taking ESL courses at Lethbridge College, she met with an instructor in Engineering Technologies who advised she send her credentials to ASET to determine what she would require for certification.
This flexibility is allowing her to take the courses she needs to meet her accreditation, rather than the full two year diploma load. When she finishes this month, she will be able to work as an engineering technologist.
“There’s fewer courses and less pressure,” says Shortt. “The instructors were so helpful in determining what I needed to be certified. In the classroom, I’m a mom with the kids, but you do what you have to do.”
Coming from Colombia two years ago, Gelver Suarez also expected to be immediately employed as a skilled worker. He knew the seven years he spent studying law back home wouldn’t translate to a career in Canada, but he figured there were other good jobs to be had. He was wrong.
“The recession has changed that situation,” he says. “So I am studying.” Suarez graduates this month from Lethbridge College’s Engineering Design and Drafting Technology (EDDT) program after taking the full two-year diploma. Come September, he’ll be back in class, adding a Civil Engineering Technology diploma to his resume. After that, it’s off to Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont. To obtain his degree.
“I’ll have two diplomas and more opportunities,” he says. Suarez’s English was good enough to allow him to start the EDDT program directly. Much of the program involves mathematics and, after all, 3.74” in Spanish is “3.74” in English; it’s also his GPA for the last semester, earning him a letter of congratulations from President Tracy Edwards, the third one he’s received for his academic prowess.
He says his program instructors took the time to guide him through the shoals of language.
“The extra help they gave me was a key point in my success,” he says.
