Fact sheet

Year founded:

1967

Alumni:

More than 100,000

Staff:

Approximately 800 full-time staff and faculty
Approximately 1,270 part-time staff and faculty

Students:

More than 13,600 full-time post-secondary and apprenticeship students
More than 2,000 international students from over 60 countries
Thousands in part-time, professional and part-time learning and online studies

Campuses:

Oshawa
Whitby

Community Employment Services Locations:

Bowmanville
Oshawa
Uxbridge
Port Perry
Beaverton

Programs:

Durham College (DC) offers more than 140 full-time and eight apprenticeship, market-driven programs.

    Courses and training:

    The Professional and Part-Time Learning (part-time and OntarioLearn study) offers more than 1,000 courses, six recognition of achievement programs, 50 certificate programs, 11 diploma programs, seven post-graduate programs and one apprenticeship certificate in a wide variety of career and personal interest subject areas.

    The college’s Corporate Training Services department provides customized training to individuals and businesses that are designed to meet industry needs.

    Oshawa campus facilities:

    • The Centre for Collaborative Education (CFCE) is DC’s latest cutting-edge facility. The first building entirely devoted to the student experience. The CFCE is designed to reflect DC’s commitment to working with local business and community partners by creating a new facility where students, employees and the broader community can work together in ways that transcend the traditional concepts of education. This multi-level, 75,000-square-foot facility will serve as an educational access point for students while bringing together local, Indigenous and global community groups and members of key business sectors. The CFCE is home to learning spaces like:
    • Durham College Spa
    • First Peoples Indigenous Centre (FPIC) (formerly the Aboriginal Student Centre)
    • Global Classroom
    • Interprofessional Simulation Lab
    • 360insights Entrepreneurship Centre, home to FastStartDC
    • Office of Student Diversity, Inclusion and Transitions
    • Centre for Success and Academic Upgrading, home to the School-College-Work Initiative
    • The Simcoe Geothermal Field and Innovation Centre. The project is part of the college’s ongoing transformation of its energy infrastructure to support and implement sustainably focused initiatives on campus. Upon completion in spring 2019, the geothermal field and connected heat pump house will harness 550 tons (1.9 megawatts) of clean, sustainable geothermal power to fuel the energy needs of the Gordon Willey building block.
      While the underground geothermal system and connected Innovation Centre will provide environmental benefits to DC, the greater campus community will also benefit from what is above ground – a beautiful new greenspace.       Additionally, the Simcoe Geothermal Field and Innovation Centre will create opportunities to act as living labs that provide new experiential learning opportunities. Working with knowledge partner Siemens, who is also the primary contractor for the geothermal field, students will explore green-energy technologies and careers while faculty will receive assistance in developing lessons incorporating geothermal technology into the curriculum.
    • The Student Services building (SSB) is one of the most comprehensive buildings of its kind in the province and serves as a vital first point of access for potential and current students and graduates. The majority of the college’s personal, educational, career and financial support services are located in the building including the Admissions and Recruitment office, Career Services, Financial Aid and Awards, Student Life and more.
    • The redeveloped Student Centre. While the location remains the same, the redeveloped space will now be home to:
    • The Integrated Manufacturing Centre, Centre for Integrated Studies and state-of-the-art dental and biotechnology labs.
    • The Campus Library offers a warm and inviting atmosphere for individual and collaborative learning including a bright, spacious second-floor study hall with two-storey ceiling. A glass rotunda on the southwest corner of the four-storey building features a first-floor cafe and a two-storey fireplace reading room.
    • The Campus Recreation and Wellness Centre (CRWC) which features a fitness centre; two fitness/dance studios; two rooms for sports training and fitness-related classes; and a triple gymnasium with an elevated jogging/running track and seating capacity for 2,000 spectators.
    • The Campus Health Centre, located at the CRWC, which features a full-service pharmacy and medical clinic that provides extended hours of service, on-site doctors and nurses, counselling and a variety of alternative health services.

    Whitby campus facilities:

    • The Whitby campus covers more than 270,000-sq.-ft. of shop, class and student services space on 29 acres of land. Offering a range of programs across multiple disciplines from various skilled trade programs to programs like Office Admin, Architecture and Civil Engineering, and Animal Care programs.
    • DC is the only college in Ontario to offer the Elevating Devices Mechanic apprenticeship training, utilizing an operating elevator and an escalator in the delivery of in-school training.
    • Boom and crawler cranes are used in the delivery of simulated and practical crane training to apprentices as part of the Hoisting Engineer: Mobile Crane Operator program.
    • Eight apprenticeship programs are offered at the Whitby campus including six that are Red Seal as well as 10 trade-related certificate and diploma programs.
    • The W. Galen Weston Centre for Food (CFF) is Durham Region’s first-ever post-secondary presence focused on the field-to-fork concept, which is based on the harvesting, storage, processing, packaging, sale and consumption of food – in particular the production of local food for local consumers. DC has adopted this concept and applied it to a diverse range of programs that crossover traditional academic schools with the curriculum, faculty expertise and equipment required to implement field-to-fork built into several of the college’s programs.
      • Capitalizing on classroom and lab equipment availability, select courses may be offered at any of our locations including the Oshawa and Whitby campuses and the CFF, the heart of the college’s field-to-fork vision.
      • An apiary or bee yard at the CFF is now the home of hundreds of bees and is part of the CFF’s field-to-fork vision.
      • Development of the CFF and Whitby campus will continue to grow with the creation of a pollinator garden, agriculture planting and demonstrator gardens supported by growth initiated in our greenhouse as well as curriculum and student support.
    • Outdoor classroom built in a circular manner to incorporate Indigenous teaching principles and an outdoor seating area.
    • The Centre for Craft Brewing Innovation offers access to expertise, state-of-the-art technology and micro-analytical services, allowing craft brewers to experiment with new recipes and flavour profiles, propagate and maintain yeast strains and conduct scientific analyses to ensure the analytical and microbiological integrity of the beer. The centre consists of a pilot brew line and brew lab. The 50-litre pilot brew line, similar to a production brew line, includes a mini brewing kettle, mini lauter, heat exchanger, fermenters, wort chiller and low-pressure steam boiler.
    • The construction of a new student residence on the Whitby campus is in process to facilitate in the housing need of students.

    Award-winning students:

    • Deanna Chaikalis and Matthew Vella were honoured as award recipients at the Canadian Fire Safety Association’s annual education forum. Chaikalis won the $500 Mircom Group Award for her exceptional overall skills focused on fire detection systems, codes, fire protection system design and practical lab skills. Vella won the $1,000 Siemens Canada Award for his outstanding performance in fire detection, codes, fire protection system design, practical lab skills and AutoCAD.
    • DC faculty first responders and first-responders-in-training from the School of Justice & Emergency Services took first-place honours at the National Paramedic Competition. Up against 15 college teams, DC Paramedic students Carley Schillings and Laura Ellis surpassed their competition to take first place. Paramedic students Corey Beal and Jon Reid took second place.
    • A team of DC students captured an impressive second-place finish in the first-ever Teaching City Hackathon on March 2018. A total of 10 teams of Oshawa post-secondary students went head-to-head on International Open Data Day for their chance to win $1,500 by proposing a solution to a public policy challenge around the theme of improving residential rental housing in Oshawa. The Hackathon was the second project of Teaching City, a formal collaboration between the City of Oshawa, Canadian Urban Institute, DC, Trent University Durham GTA, Ontario Tech University, University of Toronto Department of Civil Engineering.
    • The Journalism – Mass Media program at DC enjoyed success at the Ontario Community Newspaper Association’s Better Newspapers Competition, taking home first place honours in both categories where the work of students and faculty was nominated. The Chronicle website won for Best College/University Newspaper Website and 2017 graduate Toby Van Weston won for Student Feature Writing for his two-page story on the water quality issues on Scugog Island.
    • Seven DC students earned six medals – two gold, two silver and two bronze – in post-secondary categories at the 29th annual Skills Ontario Competition, Canada’s largest skilled trades and technology competition. Zachary Unger, Building Construction Technician, and Keeshan Sharma, Automotive Technician – Service and Management (Motive Power Technician), owned the podium, winning gold medals in the carpentry and auto service technology categories, respectively. Emilie Smith, a student in DC’s Advanced Baking and Pastry Arts program, took a silver medal in the baking category. Liam Duffy, who is enrolled in the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program and studies at DC under the School-College-Work initiative, picked up a silver medal in the culinary art category. In the horticulture and landscape category, the Horticulture Technician students, Tianna Ghersini and Andrew Campbell won bronze as a team. Apprenticeship Plumbing student Tanner Woodhead also earned bronze in the plumbing category.
    • Keeshan Sharma from the Automotive Technician – Service and Management (Motive Power Technician) program, won the silver medal in the automobile technology category at the 24th annual Skills Canada National Competition in Edmonton, Alta. Sharma advanced to the national competition following his gold-medal performance at the Skills Ontario Competition. He represented DC and Ontario while competing against top students from across Canada.
    • Emma Brooks received an ca Changing Tomorrow Award for an essay about her vision of tomorrow and how her college education is helping turn her dreams into reality. Currently enrolled in DC’s Dental Assisting (Levels I and II) program, Emma was one of only 25 students from across the province to receive the honour, which includes $500 towards her current tuition and an additional $1,000 towards her fall semester. Held in celebration of ontariocolleges.ca’s 25th anniversary, the Changing Tomorrow Award competition saw over 1,000 essays submitted by students representing a diverse range of programs and stages in their educational journeys.
    • Two teams of second-year students in DC’s Culinary Management program took home multiple awards at the 2018 Student Chef Challenge, hosted at DC’s Galen Weston Centre for Food. Sponsored by Ontario Sheep Farmers and Mushrooms Canada. DC’s Team A, comprised of second-year students Kacey Payne, Sharon Nanninga and Patrick Eckert won second place overall in the competition. Team B’s Kinsley Moore, George Donovan, and Caden McBeth won the award for Best Butchery Skills.
    • The Durham Lords women’s softball team won silver in the Canadian Collegiate Softball Association (CCSA) national championship in Saskatoon. The podium result is the best finish for the Lords at the annual CCSA competition since 2012.
    • The Durham Lords women’s softball team reached a pair of milestones by winning the 2018 Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) championship. DC not only became the first program to win a 20th OCAA league sport championship, it also became the first women’s softball team to win four straight OCAA gold medals. Lords player Ashley Black was named OCAA Pitcher of the Year and was awarded championship MVP, while Emily Glendinning was named a championship all-star after throwing a complete game of her own against St. Clair.
    • DC men’s rugby team captured the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) championship banner. The provincial banner marks the first in program history as the Durham Lords returned to conference play this season, having last played in the OCAA in 1996
    • A video exploring the Three Sisters – corn, beans and squash – and their role in Aboriginal cuisine has won five DC students from the college’s Centre for Food a prestigious competition hosted by Canoe Restaurant in Toronto. Held as part of Canada 150 celebrations, Canoe’s student series competition asked entrants to create a video answering the question, what does Canadian food mean to you? Together, Casey Chessman (Horticulture – Food and Farming), Tamara Green, Khadijah Hosein and Emilie Woytowich (Advanced Baking and Pastry Arts) and Ikra Ijaz (Hospitality – Hotel and Restaurant Operations Management) created their winning submission. DC’s students competed against 22 other schools in the competition.