About Us

Keyano College (Keyano) provides certificate, diploma, and collaborative degree programs, including pathways for pre and post-program opportunities to help students build capacity to enter programs and ladder into more advanced programs. Keyano has strong relationships with the local school districts, which provide learning experiences for high school students to take part in dual credit opportunities. To support foundational learning in the region, Keyano offers adult programming and language instruction for newcomers and academic upgrading.

Keyano has a robust Continuing Education Department that is continuing to pursue delivery of in-demand microcredential offerings. We are building our research capacity and our International Education Strategy. The College is also continuing to enhance work-integrated learning to provide further experiential learning opportunities for current programs. One of our primary focuses is to ensure students are prepared with the skills they need for gainful employment.

Keyano College plays a pivotal role in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (RMWB) by collaborating with stakeholders to support social, cultural, and economic development initiatives. The College is heavily connected to Industry and the energy sector as well as the public and non-profit sector. We take leadership from our stakeholder advisory groups on program offerings, learning outcomes and required competencies, and have vast representation on provincial and federal groups that focus on advancing post-secondary education. This includes provincial leadership teams for all executive team members, Deans, and Directors.

Keyano has specialized facilities, including a Power and Process Engineering Lab, Theatre, and the Syncrude Sport & Wellness Centre. This makes Keyano an integral partner in providing educational, cultural, recreational, and career opportunities for students and residents in the region.

Keyano has an active Advancement Team. This team plays a key role in creating friends and donors for the College through hosting events, leading grant applications, soliciting donations, and fostering alumni engagement. The College also has a Land Trust, which was established to develop its 611 acres of land to generate a sustainable and predictable revenue source.

Keyano College serves an array of students, including students that require academic upgrading and language learning. We offer certificates, diplomas, university transfer options, collaborative degrees, apprenticeships, continuing education programming, and corporate training. Our student audiences include Industry, business, the public, and non-profit sector.

Keyano also has robust relationships with the K-12 schools, Indigenous communities, and those that represent them in the RMWB. We cater to domestic students and are seeing healthy growth in our international student recruitment and global citizenship efforts.

RMWB. Stretching from north-central Alberta to the borders of Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, the RMWB is one of the largest municipalities in Canada. Keyano serves students through its Clearwater Main Campus and Suncor Energy Industrial Centre in Fort McMurray, and through learning initiatives in Fort Chipewyan, Fort McKay, and Gregoire Lake.

Keyano College offers programing through face-to-face delivery, blended delivery, hyflex delivery, and online distance delivery. Keyano recently integrated hyflex learning into the 2021-2022 course offerings, a combination of face-to-face and online delivery, to support ongoing versatility in teaching and learning. Our migration toward hyflex learning has been heavily supported by Industry. Through this initiative, Keyano has become a leader in deploying advanced technology in the classroom. The College has also installed lightboard studios, equipped with advanced technology which allows instructors to pre-record classes and supplement face-to-face delivery. This will further enable the College to deliver courses to students synchronously and asynchronously. The College also has a suite of mobile technology carts for the adaptation of classrooms from face-to-face to online delivery.

Keyano's Indigenous Education Division manages regional education programs and collaborates with Indigenous communities to identify learning needs and opportunities. The College relies on direction from Indigenous communities, with financial support from industry, provincial and federal partners. Program delivery is typically cohort-based to accommodate funding and logistical constraints. Programming beyond the foundational level is rotated throughout the communities to provide broader access.

Keyano College's Continuing Education Department strives to support community-based adult learning through custom contract deliveries and funded initiatives. Key foundational learning initiatives include Community Adult Learning Program (CALP) and General Education Development (GED); however, we also offer cohort-based certificates, diploma, and degree programs to our rural communities.

Keyano College offers credentialed and non-credentialed programs. The credentialed programs offered at Keyano include Certificate, Journeyman Certificate, and Diploma. The non-credentialed programs offered at the College are Academic Upgrading, Adult Basic Education, Open Studies, Second Language Learning, and University Transfer.

Keyano College offers multiple Collaborative Degree options, including a Bachelor of Business Administration with the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and a Bachelor of Education – Elementary Education with the University of Alberta.

The Community Based Environmental Monitoring Certificate Program is a distinct program at the College that provides environmental monitoring training through a holistic approach incorporating Indigenous perspectives and worldviews. Indigenous Elders and land users co-teach all aspects of the program alongside western scientists. The program is geared towards preparing students (Keepers of the Land) for employment in the environmental monitoring field and/or pursuing further education in an environmental area.

The Business Aviation Diploma program is offered in collaboration with McMurray Aviation, a regional commercial aviation services provider located in Fort McMurray, Alberta. The program is geared towards learners who are interested in pursuing a career in aviation business operations. Students gain business knowledge along with the aviation training compliant with Transport Canada standards. In the Esports Management Diploma Program, students will learn team and league administration, coaching, marketing, sponsorships, promotions, event and facility management, media, production, and content management skills in this Diploma program. The program will be made up of ten courses and include face-to-face teaching and online modules.

Keyano also offers Power Engineering Programming, supported through our first-class steam laboratory. The volume of high-paid work placements available to students in the 3rd Class programs makes this offering unique. Recently, Keyano received approval for the Hospitality and Tourism Management Diploma. We will deliver the program in the style of Apprenticeship programing, integrating on the job education with classroom theory. This program will fast-track students to be ready for work in industry within 16 months. The Early Learning and Childcare certificate program has also been approved for an apprenticeship-style program delivery in 2022-2023. This will take place in collaboration with Lethbridge College.

• Alberta Health Services and Canadian Mental Health Association – a collaboration with both community agencies to provide programs, courses, workshops, and resources to develop resiliency, self-management, and coping skills among staff and students.
• Campus Alberta Partners – a collaboration with our Campus Alberta partners to offer high-quality, relevant life-long learning opportunities, collaborative degrees, and flexible transfer agreements.
• Wood Buffalo Regional Innovation Network (WBRIN) – Keyano is a member of WBRIN and works closely with other organizations to promote local innovation and provide support for small businesses, start-ups, and entrepreneurs.
• First Nations' Government –Through continued collaboration with First Nations' Government, the College offers various learning options with classroom, online, and blended delivery offerings.
• Careers: The Next Generation and Women Building Futures – the partnership works together to create trade exploration opportunities for local high school students and women in Wood Buffalo.

Applied research and scholarly activities are desired areas of growth for Keyano College in the 2022-2023 academic year. Keyano has recruited a full-time director dedicated to leading this initiative. Keyano also plans to create a faculty and industry advisory committee to guide applied research and innovation activities. They will work to ensure applied research can be integrated into every program. Keyano will establish collaborative partnerships for research activities with other post-secondary institutions – including possibly outsourcing the College's Research Ethics Board. Upon implementing an applied research innovation centre, Keyano will create a web portal for industry partners to access applied research services at the College. The College intends to use its research centre to advance new innovations and technology that support industry growth and economic development.

Keyano is part of a network of researchers in post-secondary institutions through Alberta Innovates and the Regional Innovation Networks, including the Wood Buffalo Research Innovation Network, Start-up YMM, and the Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo Economic Development Corporation. Keyano holds National Sciences and Engineering Research (NSERC), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) accreditation.

Keyano plans to meet Alberta's Research and Innovation Framework (ARIF) with the implementation of the applied research and innovation centre. Compliance will be established through economic diversification and job creation which will catalyze growth and diversification of the economy. The framework which outlines the need for environmental stewardship and climate leadership will be facilitated through the development of research methods to assist in anticipation and mitigation of environmental impacts. ARIF's framework for effective resource management will be met through the College, enabling opportunities for cost-effective discovery, development and production of natural resources. Finally, to meet the need to engage individuals and communities for a healthy Alberta, the College will enhance Albertans' health and wellbeing through community-based collaborative research initiatives.

Keyano College has successfully provided higher education learning opportunities in Northern Alberta and remote communities over several decades. With the proximity to the oil sands, Keyano College has strengthened employment opportunities in Northern Alberta by laddering graduates into the local industry sector. With the vast partnership opportunities in the Wood Buffalo region, Keyano has been a foundation to catalyze local and regional economic development.

In June 2014, Keyano College was designated as a provincial institution to facilitate the entry of international students for study in Canada. In 2019, Keyano College's International Student Project Steering Committee (ISPSC) identified high-level stages of strategy development and implementation for international student recruitment and retention: (1) preparation, (2) moderate growth, and (3) expansion. Keyano is actively pursuing stage 2: moderate growth, working with international recruitment agents and Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo Economic Development and Tourism. 

Keyano is committed to supporting students to achieve their goals by providing financial assistance when possible. Students are assisted and encouraged to seek available funding through Alberta Works, Schedule 4 Funding, and for eligible Indigenous students, band funding. The College provides Emergency Student Loans in addition to grocery cards for students experiencing a food crisis.

Keyano also strives to ensure the promotion of a healthy learning environment through its Health Campus Committee.

Several initiatives related to learner pathways also exist at Keyano College. Namely, (1) the Upgrading – Academic Foundations program; (2) the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) program, funded by the Government of Canada; (3) the English for Academic Purposes Program (EAP); (4) the Community Adult Learning Program (CALP); and (5) Dual Credit, which is a partnership between Keyano and local and regional school districts. These programs contribute to learner pathways by supporting students to obtain necessary admission requirements or advanced credit towards credentialed programs.