Helping Canadians get back to work.

First College

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Possible funding to those who qualify*

  • Alberta Student Aid Program
  • Second Career
  • Loans
  • Grants
  • Bursaries
  • Scholarships

Programs

Programs offered at each campus may vary, so be sure to check other campus offerings for the course you are most interested in.

Human & Social Services, CSW Programs

  • The Community Support Worker (also known and referred to as CSWs) role is very diverse and very dynamic! CSWs assist clients who are dealing with persistent multiple barriers, social and economic challenges, addiction, abuse, chronic health conditions, grief and loss, and many other issues and needs that arise from everyday living. The value that community support workers bring to the interdisciplinary community-based service programs, is evidenced by the ever-increasing demand for graduated Community Support Workers in the human services field.

     

    Human services is a network umbrella, comprised of various organizations, agencies and government entities, developed to meet human needs. Individuals who choose a career in human services will be able to fulfill their strong desire to work in a “helping” profession where they will have the opportunity to make purposeful and meaningful contributions to another person’s growth, self-worth, empowerment and well-being.

     

    First College is dedicated to preparing students to become skillful and successful human service professionals. Integrated in the design of this 49-week accelerated program, is a foundation of knowledge consistently guided by the principles of ethics, humanistic approaches, structures of social justice, fundamentals of sociology and psychology, conceptual frameworks of lifespan perspectives, and strengths-based, person-centered wellness models.

     

    During their journey of learning and developing essential skills and professional competencies in the Community Support Worker (CSW) program, students are also afforded the opportunity to embark on an intentional discovery of personal learning, where self-reflection, and self-awareness will naturally lead them to focused action. Students will find that as a graduate from the First College Community Support Worker (CSW) program they will be fully competent, confident and career ready.

     

    Students in the Community Support Worker program will participate in a practical experience that is offered at the end of the program. The Practicum consists of 180 hours that is completed over a 6 week period. In these practicum settings, students will transfer their knowledge to actual work in the field of human services. Students will have opportunities to synthesize, integrate and apply practical skills from the formal training they learned throughout the program, and students will also benefit by the many opportunities for networking and making important contacts within the community based programs they will be assigned to.

Healthcare, Wellness, Pharma Programs

  • Care aides and community health workers are also known as health care assistants or HCAs. They are frontline care providers in a variety of institutional and community settings including home support agencies and residential care facilities.   The Health Care Assistant (HCA) Diploma Program is designed to enable the students to develop the essential knowledge and skills necessary to function effectively as frontline care givers and respected members of the healthcare team, in community and facility settings. Under the direction and supervision of a health professional, students learn to provide person-centered care aimed at promoting and maintaining the physical, emotional, cognitive, and social well-being of clients/residents. A graduate from our Health Care Assistant program will be fully competent and confident in performing skills in a variety of settings including acute care, health care facilities, private community agencies and individual homes. The Health Care Assistant (HCA) Program is an innovative and Interactive thirty-two week journey to a career that is in high demand and can truly make a difference in the lives of individuals. By learning skills focused on health promotion, illness prevention, healing and wellness, students become enveloped in a holistic approach to health care, both personally and professionally. Students learn to maintain the health, safety, comfort, independence and well-being of individuals and families while working at a caring and rewarding career. The First College Advantage is that we offer a full-time program that features evening & weekend classes, highly qualified & passionate instructors, state-of-the-art facilities, small class sizes, as well as FREE training in First Aid, CPR, FoodSafe, SPECO (Student Practice Education Core Orientation), and an Employment Preparation workshop to ensure our students are prepared to enter the workforce.   The 8-month HCA health care assistant diploma program prepare students to become top notch care givers. A graduate from our Health Care Assistant program will be fully competent and confident in performing skills in a variety of settings including acute care, health care facilities, private community agencies and individual homes.
  • Faculty of Registered Massage Therapy's mission at First College is to provide a contemporary and inspiring environment for a career in healthcare. We prepare and train young professionals for a future in therapeutic care by encouraging academic, technical and practical excellence as well as supporting a commitment to a lifetime of learning and professional service.

Technology, Networking Programs

  • Data Analytics is an in-demand field that focuses on making decisions supported by data. It’s grounded in statistics – to formulate relevant questions and determine the answer based on data – and in computer science – to manipulate and visualize data efficiently. Data analysts play a critical role in the data economy and are key for a business to succeed in the data age.   This 39-week accelerated program offers a unique blend of knowledge, essential skills and perspectives; designed to meet the industry-standard core competencies within data analytics. The content in this program was developed to ensure that graduates are conversant in approaches that will strengthen the organization’s ability to better collect, clean, visualize and analyze data to make evidence-based decisions.   Graduates will be prepared to provide effective and reliable data cleaning, visualization, analysis and communication for business dealing with data such as banks, retailers, online business, manufactures with IOT data etc. Other client populations will include governments and their agencies, non-profit organizations and NGOs with data analysis need.

Business, Accounting, Marketing Programs

  • This 165 Hours accelerated program offers a unique blend of knowledge, essential skills and perspectives; designed to meet the industry-standard core competencies with bookkeeping knowledge.   This program assumes students have no prior knowledge of bookkeeping and delivers lessons and examples to build bookkeeping skills required to embark on a career in bookkeeping. Students will receive bookkeeper training in a number of areas, from assets and liabilities to revenue and expenses, plus gain an in depth understanding of payroll administration.   Students will also have the ability to use Sage 50 to perform the necessary control and reporting for a business. After the completion of the entire program, students will have qualification to complete the online certification assessment through Sage Canada to receive your Sage 50 certificated.   There are 3 levels certifications which build on each other: Level 2: Certified User – Accounting Modules Level 2: Certified User – Payroll Module Level 3: Certified Power User   Employers are looking for individuals which have proven certifications nowadays. Our Bookkeeping certification plus Sage 50 certifications will validate your knowledge and stand you out from the crowd!  
  • This 34-week accelerated program offers a unique blend of knowledge, essential skills and cooperative work experience perspectives; designed to meet the industry-standard core competencies within business communication and customer services industry. The program is designed to improve student’s communication skills and develop their confidence, perspective, skills, knowledge they will need in the service industry.   During the last 16.5 weeks of the program, students are provided with opportunities of Co-op Placement. Co-op Placement allows students to work at a hosting company in service industry and apply the knowledge they have learned in class and gain Canadian work experience that will benefits them in future job-hunting process.
  • This 14-week accelerated program offers a unique blend of knowledge, essential skills and perspectives; designed to meet the industry-standard core competencies within office administration with basic bookkeeping knowledge.   This program provides multiple business skills such as office communication, administrative office procedures, computer software applications, manual and computerized accounting, payroll, and business correspondence.   Graduates from this program immediately begin a career in the business world, such as working in different office settings, service businesses, insurance agencies, banks, investment, plus many others.   Students will also have the ability to use Sage 50 to perform the necessary control and reporting for a business. After the completion of the entire program, students will have qualification to complete the online certification assessment through Sage Canada to receive your Sage 50 certificated.   There are 3 levels certifications which build on each other: Level 2: Certified User – Accounting Modules Level 2: Certified User – Payroll Module Level 3: Certified Power User   Employers are looking for individuals which have proven certifications nowadays. Our certification plus Sage 50 certifications will validate your knowledge and stand you out from the crowd!  

Languages, ESL Programs

  • First College offers CELPIP Exam Preparation Program for those planning improving English Skills and/or on taking the CELPIP test.   3 HOURS A DAY; 3 DAYS A WEEK   There a two major benefits to this unique program:   1. Students will upgrade existing English proficiency to improve language skills. 2. Students will also receive a solid foundation of language skills preparing for the CELPIP Exam by helping them better understand the test format, style and expectations.   The program duration is 72 hours in total. (18 hours for each module in speaking, reading, listening, and writing). Students can register for individual modules of their choice, or take the entire training for all four modules.
  • First College EAP (English for Academic Purposes) Program is for students who use English as a second or foreign language, and who wish to improve their English language skills to advance their education in Canada.   The program emphasizes speaking, listening, academic writing, reading comprehension, and college study skills. Students are placed in a level based on a free language diagnostic test.   Our EAP program is recognized by Lakeland College, a publicly funded and the only inter-provincial college in Canada. Students who successfully complete EAP level 400, together with their required high school grade, will receive offers of admission to all international programs from Lakeland College.   Please note, students DO NOT need to take any English Proficiency Assessments such as the IELTS exam to meet the language requirements from Lakeland College.   After graduating from a two-year diploma program in Lakeland College, student will receive a three-year Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) from Government of Canada.
  • First College offers IELTS Preparation Program for those planning improving English Skills and/or on taking the IELTS Exam.   The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) measures the language proficiency of people who want to study or work where English is used as a language of communication. It uses a nine-band scale to clearly identify levels of proficiency, from non-user (band score 1) through to expert (band score 9).   This 12 - week IELTS Preparation program provides an overview of the test format with a variety of sample test questions and answers, to assist students in preparing for the real IELTS Exam.   Our IELTS practice learning materials will get you acquainted with the exam format and students will upgrade English proficiency to improve language skills.   This program is reviewed and does not require approval by the Private Training Institutions Branch.

First College

About First College

First College is a Community College located in Kelowna, British Columbia. The College is Certified and Designated by the Private Training Institutions Branch (PTIB) branch of the BC government Ministry of Advanced Education. Certification by PTIB assures clients that First College delivers education and training programs that meet and exceed high quality educational standards and student protection.

All staff and faculty members strive to maintain the professionalism and standards to ensure the quality of education. For real learning, real experience and real results, First College is the premiere choice. Life, career, success is awaiting you.


*All student funding, whether made available privately or through various government branches, is only approved to those who qualify, by the original source of funding. There are many criteria that each candidate must meet to be approved. Schools can only inform you of what may be available.