Introducing Seneca’s Centre for Graduate & Professional Studies | Academic Newsletter | Seneca Polytechnic

by Kiley Bolton, Director of the Centre for Graduate and Professional Studies

in the September 2019 issue

We are pleased to share the following FAQs about the new Centre for Graduate & Professional Studies.

What is the Centre for Graduate & Professional Studies?
The Centre for Graduate & Professional Studies is a Seneca-wide initiative to bring together all of our graduate certificate and professional accreditation courses and programs.

What is the purpose of the Centre?
The Centre has been designed to attract prospective students and working professionals to study at Seneca by

• significantly increasing the number of flexible course and program options
• opening a downtown Toronto location (called Seneca Downtown)
• increasing collaboration between full-time and Faculty of Continuing Education and Training (FCET) faculties
• reinforcing Seneca's leadership position in flexible learning and increasing the profile of our graduate certificate programs regardless of the faculty through which they are delivered

How will the Centre benefit students?
The Centre will expand the number of Seneca graduate programs offered in flexible formats. It will also leverage alternative delivery options to enhance the student experience and to offer students the ability to learn from current industry experts while expanding and nurturing their professional networks.

Will the Centre be located downtown?
The Centre is more of a concept than a location, which is grounded in reinforcing Seneca’s leadership in graduate programming by marketing all of our graduate programs together on a unified landing page on our website (senecacollege.ca).

We will offer a selection of graduate certificate and professional studies courses for full-time and part-time studies at Seneca Downtown, our new space at the Workhaus co-working building in Commerce Court South. Located in a globally-recognized complex with direct PATH access and close to King and Union subway stations, this new space will provide greater flexibility and accessibility for Toronto’s working professionals who need to take a mix of early-morning, lunchtime, evening, weekend, and online courses. However, we’re also exploring other flexible options such as early-morning classes and weekend program delivery at our existing campuses.

How will the Centre affect me and the program(s) I teach in?
Currently, 10 of our more than 40 graduate certificate programs are offered through FCET. Once the Centre is launched, additional graduate certificate programs will be offered in more flexible ways, which could include in-class, online, hybrid, and early-morning / lunchtime / evening / weekend formats. We will be working closely with the Chairs and co-ordinators responsible for full-time programs to ensure the quality and consistency of courses is maintained. Some examples of programs that we are now offering in a more flexible way are Financial Technology (Fintech) and Cybersecurity and Threat Management.

Will the delivery mode change for my program? Will my program move to the new downtown location?
Once the Centre is launched, additional graduate certificate programs will be offered in more flexible ways (e.g., in-class, online, hybrid and early-morning / lunchtime / evening / weekend formats).

A working group, that includes faculty, will be formed in early September. More details about the working group will be shared in the coming weeks.

I still have questions. Who can I contact?
Please feel free to contact Kiley Bolton, Director of the Centre for Graduate and Professional Studies, at kiley.bolton@senecacollege.ca or 416-491-5050 ext. 26750 should you have any questions.

View the September 2019 issue of the Academic Newsletter.