Diploma in Business

at St. Lawrence College - Brockville Campus Canada

A career in office work is challenging, fastpaced, and interesting. In a typical office, you might be required to create/maintain a website, produce flyers, or generate a news letter. You certainly will need to know how to use the Internet for information, travel arrangements, and e-mail processing. Further, you will be expected to manage electronic word processing, spreadsheets, databases, presentations, and desktop publishing. ‘Soft skills’ such as the ability to manage your time, greet visitors properly, and answer the telephone effectively are highly valued by employers and taught in this program.

Program Highlights
The role of an office administrator has changed and continues to evolve leading to variety of rewarding careers.

The Office Administration - Health Services Program prepares graduates for current and future office trends. Experienced faculty prepare students to work in dynamic business environments. Students become extremely computer literate through instructional scaffolding. Faculty provide a supportive and professional environment that allows students to build on their current level of knowledge, which leads to mastery of the skills required in a business office.

Students graduate from the program appreciating the value of being an office administrator and become advocates of the profession during their career.

This two-year (four semester) program prepares students with specialized training in addictions and mental health for employment in the healthcare and social services field. The Mental Wellness and Addictions Worker is equipped to engage and support individuals with addictions and/or mental health concerns. Graduates of the program will acquire the knowledge, skills, tools, and abilities required by frontline professionals to deliver responsive and effective practice. Graduates will gain an understanding of the complex needs of diverse client populations; establish and extend their skillset; nurture and expand their critical-thinking and problem-solving skills; recognize, understand, and apply a holistic model of client-centered care; and, ultimately demonstrate learned theoretical concepts with our community stakeholders during their field placement. The in-classroom hands-on approach to learning is key to student success and invaluable when translating theory-to-practice in the field.

The General Arts & Science (Certificate) program offers a foundational year for students preparing for the workforce or for future study. Students in the General Studies stream meet with the program coordinator to customize their program according to their needs and interests. Core courses include communication, computers, applied or social science, personal development, and general education. Complementing these are varied electives such as Film, Addictions, and Fitness. Students can also focus on essential competencies in communications, science and math.

Highlights
This one-year post-secondary certificate prepares you directly for the workforce or for future study. You will develop a set of core employment skills, complemented by electives that are chosen in consultation with your academic advisor (500 hours). Students are also eligible to continue their studies in the General Arts & Science Diploma at the second-year level.

Built on a strong foundation of marketing, human resources, and accounting the two-year Business diploma appeal to those interested in a broad, well-integrated education.

Business students at St. Lawrence College become effective leaders and communicators, able to represent themselves and their work through interviews and resumes, networking opportunities, and presentations. Students apply problem solving, teamwork, and intercultural skills to projects at the college, in the community, and internationally, establishing themselves as global business citizens.

The two-year Business diploma provides opportunities for rewarding careers in business and for further education, such as the Bachelor of Business Administration and international studies through St. Lawrence College.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
Students become effective communicators, trained in problem solving, teamwork and quality management. They are skilled in the use of current computer software applications in word processing, spreadsheets, databases, and presentation graphics. Two years at college will get you started in a challenging career in business.

The Business Fundamentals program provides students with a broad and exploratory business education. The program will cover business basics such as accounting, marketing, human resources, business mathematics, and business communications. This program can supplement previous post-secondary education to allow students to enter a wide variety of entry level business positions. Additionally this program can allow student to explore further business education and can apply for advanced standing into the second year of the Business, Marketing, and Human Resources programs at the College.

 *NOTE: You can start this program in October and January. Applicants should apply at www.ontariocolleges.ca as a Business Fundamentals (0973) student. All students will start in this program and transition into the Business program area of their choice. Students who start in October or January complete their first year of the program at the end of June or July and then begin second year in September.

The General Arts & Science Diploma provides a broad liberal arts curriculum that prepares students for the workforce, college programs, or transfer to university. Core courses provide a solid foundation in communications and interpersonal skills, computers, mathematics, analytical skills, science, and general education. Complementing these are varied electives such as Film, Addictions, Fitness, and Psychology. All courses are chosen in consultation with the program coordinator, ensuring the right mix to meet each student’s interests and vocational goals.

General Arts & Science is a flexible program. Course sequence can change subject to student goals and class availability.

Diploma
You will take a number of core courses that provide a solid foundation in communications and interpersonal skills, computers, mathematics, analytical skills, science, and general education. The remaining courses are electives, chosen in consultation with your program advisor. Diploma graduates are prepared to enter the workforce directly, or they may continue their studies at university.

University-bound students are encouraged to complete a pre-university diploma track. Students who self-identify as Pre-University work with the Program Coordinator to further customize their diploma course selection in preparation for university study. Key academic areas (Communications, Applied Science, Social Science, Math) are emphasized in accordance with the student's goals. Potential transfer opportunities exist at a number of Canadian universities; exploring these possibilities is at the discretion of the student. Please contact the program coordinator for more information.

Highlights
Choose from varied electives such as Film, Addictions, Fitness, and Psychology or strengthen your ability in core courses in languages, sciences, and math; the General Arts and Science program will allow you to do both. Diploma students complete two years in the college environment, rather than four at a university, and still have the option of transferring and completing a university degree and/or transferring into another program offered at St. Lawrence.

The Hairstyling Diploma Program offers practical, theoretical, and experiential learning opportunities to prepare students for an exciting career in the Hairstyling industry. Our students gain knowledge and skills in all areas of hairstyling, including haircutting, styling, chemical services, hair additions as well as career preparation and business operations. Our Diploma Program is fast-tracked.  Our students complete a two-year diploma and are ready to begin their careers in just 49 weeks.

Our faculty and staff are a group of highly trained, skilled professionals with years of experience in both the Hairstyling and educational fields and many of are faculty our graduates of our program! Our faculty team is continually updating their skills to offer our students the most current hairstyling techniques and trends to prepare them for this ever-changing industry.

St. Lawrence College operates two training salons: Transitions on our Brockville campus and Dynamic Designs on our Kingston campus.

A student graduating from the Office Administration - Legal program will graduate with a diploma in Office Administration - Legal, opening the door to a variety of employment opportunities in both the private and public work sectors. Graduate employment rates released in the fall 2019 showed 95%-100% employment.

Students will gain knowledge in the following areas:

• Technical skills
  • Advanced level Office 365/2019 cloud-based computer application skills including Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, OneNote etc.
  • Outlook 365 - students become proficient in producing professional email communications, creating folders to stay organized, use of Outlook calendar to book appointments and schedule meetings.
  • Additional software applications include PCLaw, The Conveyancer, Teraview, Automated Civil Litigation (ACL), Adobe Acrobat DC Pro and Sage 50.
  • Students will be required to achieve a keyboarding speed of 50-60 GWPM.
  • Students learn to share and edit documents in a cloud-based environment. Using MS Teams, collaboration software students learn how to book, attend and chair virtual meetings.
• Soft skills
  • Client, patient and customer relationships are built on the use of effective and consistent communication as well as the ability to uphold and maintain confidentiality. The ability to work both independently and collaboratively are skills that are highly valued.
  • Employers seek office administrators that are highly organized, forward thinking and have the ability to problem solve. Students have the opportunity to enhance these skills through learning by example with regular classroom exercises and participating in the student work placement experience.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

• The role of an office administrator has changed and continues to evolve leading to variety of rewarding careers.
• The Office Administration - Legal Program prepares graduates for current and future office trends. Experienced faculty prepare students to work in dynamic business environments. Students become extremely computer literate through instructional scaffolding. Faculty provide a supportive and professional environment that allows students to build on their current level of knowledge, which leads to mastery of the skills required in a business office.
• Students graduate from the program appreciating the value of being an office administrator and become advocates of the profession during their career.

The Music Theatre - Performance program gives aspiring musical theatre professionals theoretical and practical training in three core disciplines of acting, singing and dance. Our faculty of experienced professionals guide students through personalized instruction and coaching, as well as courses in stagecraft, musical theatre history, music theory and audition preparation. This demanding “triple threat” program allows you to hone your skills by performing in front of audiences in studio, main stage productions and in our unique touring productions where students learn to create and produce original theatrical pieces. Our students receive mentoring from faculty and guest industry professionals to become competent and job-ready for a competitive and rapidly changing industry.

Learn more - download the Music Theatre - Performance Program Brochure (pdf)

Highlights

• Guest industry experts provide unique learning opportunities through workshops in specialized skills and techniques to augment the core curriculum. 
• Students perform in multiple musical productions including performances at the Brockville Arts Centre, recognized as one of the finest historic theatres in Eastern Ontario.
• Our campus is situated in a safe, historic community along the St. Lawrence River with easy access to three of Canada's largest cities, Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal.

This program provides training for a career in Policing Services and other branches of Law Enforcement. The goal of Police Foundations is to provide potential police officers and other law enforcement agents with a well-rounded education which prepares them to address the problems of the communities they serve in a flexible and effective manner.