There was good news in the latest regional Economic Impact Report done on the Thompson Rivers University Williams Lake Campus.
Vice President of Administration and Finance Matt Milovick said this study is done on a 5-year basis and maps out the financial benefits that the University, its employees, students, and alumni have within the province and the region.
Milovick said the last time the report was done for Williams Lake was in 2018-2019.
“And at that time the Williams Lake Campus had a 25.4 million dollar total impact on the Williams Lake community. Fast forward to 2023-24 a slight uptick, that total economic impact is 27 million dollars.”
Milovick noted that this report lets TRU see how the universities in Williams Lake and Kamloops are impacting their communities and the regions they serve and the economic benefits of their activities.
“As the University has grown, that impact to the community is significant in terms of jobs created, the return on investment for students when they invest in their education, the returns they ultimately receive over the course of their life it’s massive.”
Milovick added that the Williams Lake Campus is an important regional campus for TRU.
“It allows us to run programs that are beneficial for the types of industry’s and activities that are occurring in Williams Lake and it gives students that may not have an opportunity travel to a larger centre to either start their University education there or pick up a certification, or trade.”
He said since COVID the numbers have been a bit stagnant in terms of enrolment but we have really strong leadership there over the last couple of years, year and a half, and we’re looking forward to seeing increasements in enrolment.”
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