Bridging to Green Careers

Program Description

Turn your international training in engineering and life sciences into a successful career in Canada.

Bridging to Green Careers is a program designed to help internationally trained immigrants succeed in Canada’s environmental sector. Through eight months of intensive environmental training, job-specific language classes and employment counseling, you will be prepared for a career in the environmental sector.

With a focus on two streams, the Built Environment and the Natural Environment, you’ll learn the theory and practical skills needed to succeed in the workplace.

In partnership with the Government of Ontario, this program runs for 30 hours per week and helps you develop in-depth knowledge of the green sector. Graduates will receive a Certificate from Seneca College.

The Built Environment:

Business priorities are changing as companies become more aware of green issues. There’s now a growing demand for professionals who can help businesses and individuals to reduce their environmental impact, carbon footprint, and energy use and costs. Seneca has created two leading-edge certificate programs to train these professionals – one focused on the Built Environment, and the other on the Natural Environment. The Built Environment can have a big effect on a company’s CO2 emissions and operating costs. As a graduate of BGC, you will be able to examine building structures and systems, create operating strategies for energy demand and supply, minimize operating costs and environment/energy impacts, and work within a building sciences engineering team to achieve new levels of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.

The Natural Environment:

The Natural Environment stream prepares you to be part of a team focused on improving the relationship between the natural world and humans. You’ll gain a strong foundation in sample acquisition planning, data collection, and reporting. In this field, you’ll contribute to the broader practice of municipal and environmental engineering by providing the objective and empirical knowledge required for the consideration of alternative strategies.

Eligibility

In order to be eligible, you must:

• Be able to work in Canada
• Be a skilled immigrant living in Canada for less than five years
• Be unemployed and lacking in professional Canadian experience in your field of training
• Have a language level CLB 8+ or higher
• Have a professional and academic background in engineering or life sciences
• Have your international academic and professional credentials evaluated
• Complete an application and submit a current resume
• Attend an information session
• Successfully complete a panel interview

The Importance of Learning Skills:

Student success in college requires well developed learning skills (such as being able to work independently, participate in a team, be well-organized, develop good work habits, and show initiative). These skills are as important as prior academic achievement. While it is expected that applicants would have developed these skills through previous education and life experiences, Seneca offers support to assist students with further development of these important skills.

Your Career

The Built Environment Business:

As a graduate of this program, you'll:

• Have a thorough understanding of the design of intelligent buildings to meet or exceed current energy and environmental standards
• Have a complete understanding of the impact and integration of the various systems that condition our buildings
• Apply state-of-the-art comprehensive integrated building design tools
• Apply intelligent and integrated systems throughout the building’s life cycle
• Perform detailed energy audits and facility condition assessments to identify energy and cost saving initiatives
• Use comprehensive simulation tools to model building performance, and calculate energy savings and environmental benefits from savings initiatives
• Understand the emerging marketplace for carbon trading, environmental impact verification
• Create a more energy efficient and environmentally sustainable built environment

The Natural Environment:

As a graduate of this stream, you'll be skilled in:

• Engaging in water-related, soil, and geological conditions studies
• Collecting, sampling, measuring, and analyzing natural materials
• Presenting findings in aural and written formal reports
• Enhancing as part of a team the performance of water and land resources
• Engaging in the natural world in a variety of urban and regional settings
• Contributing to the beauty and property value of the natural environment
• Building a healthy and safer world for

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