Niagara College - Welland Campus — Attraction in Welland

The Niagara College of Applied Arts and Technology (frequently shortened to Niagara College and branded as Niagara College Canada) is a public College of Applied Arts and Technology within the Niagara Region of Southern Ontario, Canada.

The college has three campuses: the Welland Campus in Welland, the Niagara-on-the-Lake Campus in Niagara-on-the-Lake, and the Taif Campus in Ta'if, Saudi Arabia. Their Maid of the Mist Campus in Niagara Falls closed in 2018.

With 9,000 full-time students, including more than 4000 international students from more than 60 countries, the college offers over 100 post-secondary diploma, baccalaureate degrees and advanced level programs. The continuing education division attracts approximately 15,000 registrants to more than 600 courses each year. Niagara College employs 291 faculty, 89 administration staff and 224 support staff and has graduated more than 50,000 students.

On May 21, 1965, Ontario led the way for colleges of applied arts and technology with the creation of its college system.[citation needed] In 1967, Niagara College’s Welland Campus was established in response to the provincial initiative to create many such institutions, providing career-oriented diploma and certificate courses, as well as continuing education programs.

In 1998 Niagara College opened its Niagara-on-the-Lake Campus in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. In 2004, Niagara College’s hospitality, tourism and culinary programs moved from the Maid of the Mist Campus to new facilities at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Campus. In 2002, Niagara College launched its Niagara College Teaching Winery, the first commercial teaching winery in Canada, and in 2011 it launched the Niagara College Teaching Brewery, also the first of its kind in Canada. Today, the culinary programs, teaching winery and teaching brewery are all part of Niagara College’s Canadian Food and Wine Institute.

In response to the rapid growth of Niagara’s tourism sector and the anticipated demand for thousands of new workers, the college established the Tourism Industry Development Centre (TIDC). Housed on the Maid of the Mist Campus in Niagara Falls, the TIDC serves as a dedicated industry development and training resource for the hospitality and tourism sector. In 2007, the Ontario Street Site was added for the expanding Health & Community Studies programs.

In 2008, Niagara College embarked on a $90 million campus redevelopment as part of the college’s overall master plan, which included significant improvements and additions to the Welland and Niagara-on-the-Lake Campuses. The redevelopment project was designed to increase capacity in programs that serve key industries in Niagara, including skilled trades, technology, winery and viticulture and hospitality and tourism, while providing much-needed improvements to aging facilities. The project was also a response to the college’s growth, including a 10.1 percent increase in total enrolment for the fall 2008 term - the largest increase among all Ontario colleges.[citation needed]

Construction at the Welland Campus included a 15,000-square-foot (1,400 m2) expansion to the Rankin Technology Centre, as well as a new Academic Wing, a Library and Learning Commons, a two-storey Athletics Centre a Student Centre and the $40 million Applied Health Institute (AHI), funded by the federal and provincial governments under the Knowledge Infrastructure Program (KIP). The facility brings all of Niagara College’s health programs into one complex and created space for new programs and 1,000 new students. The AHI includes classrooms and simulation labs, a dental clinic, community health clinic and a...

A shameful money grab operation. The instructors in the welding techniques program are a bunch of old buddies who couldn't care less whether the students learn something or not. One particularly laughable guy gave us ALL 70 to 80% marks regardless of how horrible or perfect our work was. The faculty in general takes a minimum effort approach and they just throw you in the welding booth to fend for yourself. This is also due to having only one instructor for 16 students. They also keep reminding you of how expensive all the equipment/supplies are, and flip their lid if you have to use an extra piece of material or welding rod.

The college focuses on trapping international students such as myself and their website is designed to hook us with enticing "facts" that we only discover to be lies after we arrive. Like their onsite health clinic for which the only doctor is booked for months in advance, and whenever you need attention they just punt you to the only clinic in Welland.

Oh and the housing department put me in a house that was 35 minutes away from the college, with no public transport nearby. So I walked in the dead of winter for an hour every day. (this was January mind you).

Welland itself is such a horrible town. It's expensive and the people are rude and bitter. All the factories that used to be there have left, so all that remains are elderly people and junkies or people that live off welfare. There is absolutely nothing to do other than visiting the falls.

I was fortunate to be able to transfer to a different college for my second semester, and that was the best thing that could happen to me. I would advise you that you consider other places before enrolling in a trades...

Terrible school, only one teacher in my course actually cared about the students and went out of their way to make sure students were understanding. Worst of all, I had a spinal and hip injury, was bedridden for almost 3 weeks, is going to take 4 years at least to recover, but the school provided no accommodation other than telling me to basically deal with it with my teachers, ONE teacher did not attempt to make any efforts into helping me catch up with the time I missed, she did nothing and knew about my situation since the DEAN emailed her about it. So with the lack of help from that ONE teacher, I failed one class, had to wait a full year, and spend extra money on this class when that teacher could’ve spent an hour or two trying to help me catch up. This was the Civil Engineering Technician course, be warned and look for other school options BEFORE deciding to go to Niagara, the school just wants your money, they don’t care about...