Ryerson Bootcamp program has 50,000 reasons to celebrate
TORONTO - Bootcamps -- the award-winning program that lets Ted Rogers School of Management students access the skills most sought after by employers -- reached a major milestone this week, surpassing 50,000 registrants.
Bootcamps prepare students for the workforce by providing them with industry-level technical training, such as Excel, Tableau and Salesforce. Bootcamps are available free to students. They employ dozens of undergraduate student facilitators with expertise to train their fellow students on platforms and tools coveted by industry. Peer to peer training works brilliantly.
The dynamic growth in the program is especially impressive considering Bootcamps were introduced at Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School only three years ago.
“Reaching this milestone demonstrates a need for a program like this, both from the student perspective and the industry perspective,” said Graham Sogawa, Executive Director of the Business Career Hub (BCH). “Bootcamps bridge the gap between the classroom and the workplace and we know we’re helping students gain the skills they need to succeed, especially in this climate.”
Students with business degrees plus skills are flying off the shelf and making Ted Rogers students desirable employees. In 2019, nearly 100 percent of Bootcamp facilitators received employment offers in relevant fields before they graduated. That same year, the Ted Rogers Co-op program saw 90 percent of its graduates receive full-time job offers before graduation.
The program has won the TalentEgg Special Award for Innovation by a Career Centre and Nelufur Bhasin, manager of Bootcamp programming, has also won the Ryerson University President’s Blue and Gold Award of Excellence for her work in advancing the university’s mission through Bootcamps.
During the pandemic, as students transitioned to online learning, so too did the Bootcamps, with courses shifting to virtual delivery while maintaining momentum and growth. The BCH began planning for the online delivery of Bootcamps in early February 2020 as concerns over COVID-19 grew. Thanks to this preparation, after Ryerson announced on Friday, March 13, 2020 that all in-person events were cancelled, Bootcamps were up and running online on Monday, March 16, 2020. The program has seen a dramatic uptick in interest throughout the pandemic.
“The immediate pivot from in-person sessions to virtual learning is a testament to how nimble and agile the program and its facilitators can be,” said Daphne Taras, Dean of the Ted Rogers School. “Before, we had to limit registrants based on class sizes. Now we’re able to reach hundreds of students with the virtual format. And even our first-year students have caught the bootcamp fervor, and are getting business skills right away. That helps them throughout their degrees, and we can badge their skills on LinkedIn too.”
Sogawa says the virtual bootcamp format is here to stay and the BCH will continue to enhance the online sessions and find creative ways to engage students.
“We’re very proud of reaching the 50,000 mark and we’re already looking forward to the next 50,000.”
For more information about Bootcamps or to speak to Graham Sogawa, please contact:
Nadine Habib
Media Relations & Content Specialist, TRSM
