Robertson College

Coordinates: 49°53′46.4″N 97°08′32″W / 49.896222°N 97.14222°W / 49.896222; -97.14222

Robertson College
Type Private College of Health, Business, Technology and Continuing Education
Established 1911
CEO Henry
Students 5000 (est)
Location Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Campus Winnipeg, Brandon, Edmonton and Calgary.
Affiliations ECC
Website www.robertsoncollege.com, www.westervelt.ca

Robertson College is a Canadian-based college with 12 locations globally. Its locations in Canada include Winnipeg, Brandon and Calgary. The College offers diploma programs in health, business, technology and continuing education.

Campus

Robertson College has four campuses in Canada, located in Winnipeg, Brandon, Calgary, and Edmonton. Robertson College also has an online campus, iRobertson , which offers much of the same programming.

The college also provides career training through partner schools in Africa, the United Kingdom and China.[1]

History

Robertson College was founded in 1911 after founder M.I. Robertson emigrated from Scotland to live with her sister and brother-in-law in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. In Edinburgh, Scotland, Mrs. Robertson worked in the city hall. It was thought that Mrs. Robertson was married and had a husband who had been a ship’s sea captain, but there is no proof of this. Back then it was not proper protocol to ask, or to speculate private matters. Nonetheless Mrs. Robertson came to Canada with her young daughter.

When she arrived to Canada she lived in a small shack with her daughter, sister and brother-in-law near the railway. She and her sister then started a court reporting business by the name of Dominion Stenographic Service. Part of her work was taking in “apprentice” based students, Mrs. Robertson, her sister and employers noticed the need and the quality of apprentices that they were putting forth. It was in 1919 that the judicial courts began to hire their own shorthand stenographers; which helped evolve the business into a shorthand school.

In the 1921 Saskatoon Henderson Directory it was noted that Mrs. Robertson began to advertise her business as Dominion Business College. In 1923 it was then advertised as the Robertson Shorthand and Secretarial School when her sister and husband moved to British Columbia.

It is believed that Mrs. Robertson saw education as a way to help young people. Mrs. Robertson documents during one of the Saskatchewan Minimum Wage Board Meetings of the concern of young girls coming to the city seeking employment. Many employers were not willing to pay well, and many of these young girls were employed as waitresses, thus long hours. The girls needed a place to sleep, and therefore slept on the floors of their place of employment and still had no money for winter clothing or basic sustenance.

Mrs. Robertson stopped teaching in the school in 1942 where she handed off her role to Mrs. Lepine who later purchased the college. Mrs. Robertson died in 1958.

The school became the Saskatoon Robertson Career College shortly thereafter. It closed its doors in 1990. This made the campus in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which was founded in 1980 after being purchased by Lynne Oliver, as the last remaining college under the Robertson banner. The school was then purchased by Don Thomas in 1985. Mr. Thomas expanded the school curriculum and made major restructuring changes to Robertson Career College including expanding to different campuses and programs in the Prairies. In 1993, the college name was changed to Robertson College. In 2001, it was purchased by Midwestern School of Business and Technology in Winnipeg. It has since become a multi-campus college. The College was moved from Portage Avenue in downtown Winnipeg to the historic Exchange District at 265 Notre Dame Avenue. The College now focuses on healthcare, business and Information Technology programs.

In 2004, Robertson College added an additional campus in Calgary, Alberta. The campus initially focused on training Pharmacy Technicians and over the past few years has expanded its focus to business and health care. As well in 2004, the college started its first international partnership in China. In China, the Live-In Caregiver program is taught to help Chinese students immigrate to Canada. Since 2004, Robertson College has added other training partnerships in West Africa and Mauritius. In 2009, an online training division for Robertson College was created. Robertson’s Online Training Division, iRobertson College, provides distance and part-time education.

Further Information

Robertsons College is a member of the Long Term & Continuing Care Association of Manitoba.[2] The College is also registered as a Private Vocational Institution with the Government of Manitobas.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Robertson College Inc". Industry Canada. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  2. ↑ "Membership Info". Long Term & Continuing Care Association of Manitoba. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  3. ↑ "Private Vocational Institutions". Government of Manitoba. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
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