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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

William and Catherine Booth rebrands itself as university college

By: Nick Martin

15/05/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

THE province is allowing William and Catherine Booth College to market itself as a university college -- even though the private faith-based school can not legally call itself a university."They're using the term university college solely for the purposes of advertising," Advanced Education Minister Diane McGifford. "It's not any indication that we recognize them as a university college. That is not their official title."

McGifford said that the institution in downtown Winnipeg offers some university-level programs and grants degrees. Promoting itself as a university college "would allow them to be more competitive with similar university colleges in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario."

Changing the college's name to include the word 'university' would require the government to agree to amend the provincial act that incorporated the school, a move that Booth College has not requested.

William and Catherine Booth is running billboards and transit bus ads throughout Winnipeg touting Booth as "A Christian University College."

"That's the centrepiece of our strategic plan for the next five years," Booth College president Donald Burke said. "The strategy is to fundamentally transform the college into a Christian university college."

Burke said that university college is a term widely used in Ontario and Alberta to describe private post-secondary institutions that offer a small number of university programs, but lack the range of programs and resources found in large public universities.

"We're using it as a descriptor in our marketing -- it's not in our name," he said.

"Our assessment is we're virtually anonymous in the city and southern Manitoba. We want people to know we're here, and a viable choice."

Burke said that Booth has evolved from its inception 27 years ago as a Bible college. It has about 500 students, or 250 full-time equivalents.

While it remains a major Canada-wide training and education centre for the Salvation Army, Booth has awarded degrees in social work for 20 years, and this fall will add four-year undergraduate programs in religion, behavioural sciences, English, film studies, and general arts.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 15, 2009 B3

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