Conestoga College announces $43.5M expansion of Waterloo campus

Conestoga College announced a $43.5 million expansion to its north Waterloo campus on Monday, which will begin the first phase of its Pathways to Prosperity initiative.

"This investment will enable Conestoga to build essential capacity to address the needs of our growing community, foster innovation and create new opportunities for individuals to build the skills and knowledge that will contribute to successful careers, stronger businesses, and economic growth across our dynamic region," said Conestoga College president JohnTibbitsin a news release Monday morning.

The expansion means a major renovation for the college's satellite campus, located at 108 University Ave. E.

According to a release, by the fall of 2018, the college will provide:

• A new Institute for Culinary & Hospitality Management that will train students in these fields andpushWaterloo region as a culinary tourism destination.
• A new access hub that will provide career advising, language training, testing and academic advising forstudents, newcomers to Canada, job seekers and area employers.
• The Centre for AdvancedLearning will focus on information and communications technology,digital technologies and business.

The college will also be the home to the college's language training, which is currently in a rented facility in Waterloo, andthe School of Information Technology, currently at theDoonCampus.

The college itself is paying for two-thirds of the expansion, while $14 million will come from the federal government's Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund, with the Government of Ontario chipping in the remaining $1.8 million.

"This investment will create the right conditions forinnovation and long term growth," said Marwan Tabbara, MP for KitchenerSouth Hespeler, where the main campus of Conestoga College is located.