PEI institutions work together to improve persistence rate

Holland College, the University of Prince Edward Island, and College Acadie IPE are working together to improve western PEI's persistence rate. The institutions are launching an initiative called PEI Campus West, through which they will offer a set of PSE courses at the Holland College Waterfront Campus that will count toward a credential at any of the 3 institutions. The institutions plan to offer 5 courses in each of the fall 2015 and winter 2016 semesters in areas including business communications, computer literacy, accounting, sociology, and psychology. "What we hope to do is transition a greater number of people in western PEI to postsecondary. That's really the goal," said Holland Registrar Donna Sutton. "It's to try and say, 'you know what, you're not sure what you'd like. Come and sample a couple of these courses and, regardless of what institution you end up at, we will honour that credit.'" The province is providing financial support for the initiative. The Guardian