College of the Rockies wins silver

Colleges and Institutes Canada President Denise Amyot presents College of the Rockies’ Manager, International Projects and Partnerships Graham Knipfel with the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics’ (WFCP) silver award as COTR Assistant Registrar Jason Colombo looks on. Amyot travelled to the College’s Cranbrook campus from Ottawa on November 7 and presented the award for the College’s Maternal Access and Infant Survival for Health Advancement (MAISHA) project.

College of the Rockies continues to be recognized for its excellent work. At the recent International Congress of the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics (WFCP) in Beijing, the College was awarded silver in the area of social development. The award represented one of only six awards presented to Canadian institutions as part of the Congress.

The award was presented to the College for their Maternal Access and Infant Survival for Health Advancement (MAISHA) project, a health partnership in rural Kenya. MAISHA focuses on improving maternal, newborn and child health in rural communities by strengthening health facilities and community health systems through the development of training systems at educational institutions.

College of the Rockies’ Executive Director of International and Regional Development, Patricia Bowron, received the award in Beijing on behalf of the College.

“I am pleased to accept this honour recognizing the significant contribution of our college team, students and community members as well as the contribution of one of our longest-standing partners, Dedan Kimathi University of Technology in Kenya,” Bowron says. “The College has made significant headway in internationalization for a college of our size and we are proud to be one piece of the puzzle to support the development of sustainable health care solutions for communities.”

The WFCP Awards of Excellence honour and support best practices in applied education institutions. To be eligible for consideration for an award, nominees must have made a significant and sustained contribution in their award category.

Graham Knipfel, College of the Rockies’ Manager of International Projects and Partnerships explains, “The College has many years of experience working on social development projects both at home and abroad. The MAISHA project is focused on achieving Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) services in two rural communities in Kenya by strengthening health facilities and community health systems. Programs include short courses in emergency obstetric care where, assessments reveal, we have increased the number of nurses with these life-saving skills from 11% to 94% in one target region.”

The World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics is an international network of applied educational institutions and associations of Colleges. They provide leadership in delivering education to increase workforce employability in countries around the world.

Click to learn more about College of the Rockies’ MAISHA project.