Building Emotional Intelligence

The post-secondary experience is one of the most transitional times in a person’s life. Students navigate new levels of independence, academic demands, evolving relationships, career planning, and personal growth, all while adapting to constant change. While these experiences can be exciting, they can also be challenging and overwhelming.

All student services at Durham College contribute to enhancing individual’s emotional intelligence and encourage all students to embark on a journey of self-discovery while they are here to develop the skills required for life after graduation.

Why Emotional Intelligence?

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to recognize, understand, and manage emotions in ourselves while effectively navigating relationships with others.

Research and practice consistently demonstrate that emotional intelligence influences how people lead, communicate, collaborate, learn, respond to change, and maintain wellbeing. It shapes how we approach difficult conversations, manage stress, build trust, and contribute to healthy workplace cultures.

At Durham College, emotional intelligence is not viewed as a standalone competency. Rather, it serves as an underlying capability that enables success across many dimensions of work and life.

When emotional intelligence grows, other important capabilities often strengthen alongside it.

Emotional intelligence (EI) helps students navigate these transitions by developing skills to:

understand themselves and their emotions
manage stress and respond to challenges
build healthy relationships and communicate effectively
adapt to change with resilience

Strengthening emotional intelligence supports academic success, personal well-being, and the confidence to thrive throughout college and beyond.

Emotional Intelligence is malleable, and skill-based, meaning you can measure and make changes to increase your emotional intelligence over the course of your lifetime, and see notable changes over the course of a year.

If you would like to assess your own emotional intelligence, try out this free self-assessment