Diploma in Digital Media and IT - IT System Administrator Concentration (Co-op Optional)

at Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) Canada

Do you want to create change within your organization? Have you dreamt of becoming your own boss?

The Business Administration – Entrepreneurship and Innovation diploma program fosters an entrepreneurial mindset and will help you develop the knowledge and skills you need to become an innovator. 

Our courses have been designed to help you pursue a career path that is right for you. You will be equipped for your chosen venture, whether a for-profit business, social enterprise, or as an entrepreneur within an innovative organization.

Veterinary medical assistants provide support to clients, animal health technologists and veterinarians. Duties may include administration, animal handling and support with nutritional and pharmaceutical products. They also assist with record keeping and other clinical procedures and tasks.

This 1-year certificate program will provide you the skills and confidence you’ll need to work in a front-line position as a veterinary medical assistant in private veterinary clinics, livestock centres and animal shelters. In addition to classroom instruction, you’ll get in-depth knowledge and hands-on experience in animal clinics across Alberta.

Good attention to detail? Thrive on a fast pace and heavy workload? These are important traits of people interested in this program. If you are a people person and enjoy helping them with their animals, this program is a good fit for you.

What You Will LearnCareer 
Hands-on, industry-relevant training
To work as a veterinary medical assistant, you will need to have a genuine interest in animals and their welfare. It’s important to understand that you will need to be comfortable working with a variety of animals, both large and small.

After a year of classroom instruction, your clinical placement will give you hands-on experience at an animal clinic where you’ll get a taste of what your future career could look like. Travel may be necessary as some placements are outside of Edmonton.

You will also regularly support the animal health technologists at the NAIT Animal Clinic. 

As a student in the program, you can expect to spend on average:

• 26 hours per week attending classes over the course of a semester 
• 15 to 20 hours per week studying and completing class assignments

This nationally recognized program provides a wide range of training and will give you the skills necessary to make full or partial dentures, repair crowns, bridges and orthodontic appliances. You’ll learn the art and science of creating corrective devices for natural teeth and tissues.

A dental technologist is a master of their craft and an essential member of the dental-health team. To be successful, you’ll need to display meticulous attention to detail and an equal combination of technical skills and artistry.

What You Will Learn
Hands-on, industry-relevant training 
Throughout the program, you’ll recreate the appearance of natural teeth in fixed restorations such as crowns and implant restorations using porcelain, metal alloys and ceramic materials. For corrective devices like orthodontic appliances, you’ll learn the physical and biological forces of handling waxes, wires and acrylic materials.

You’ll have an individual workstation in the dental lab, complete with the latest industry-standard equipment, like:

• press ceramic furnace
• digital laboratory scanner
• acrylic injection system
• pressure thermal-forming machine

You can expect to spend, on average

• 32 hours per week attending classes over the course of a semester
• 10-15 hours per week studying and completing class assignments

The Advanced Welding Technology diploma goes beyond the Alberta Welder Apprenticeship training. It combines advanced technical knowledge, welding skills, and exposure to modern technologies to give a graduate the competitive edge into a career in welding. From skills in fabrication to product innovation and inspection methods, you will gain foundational skills that are in-demand by industry. This two-year program is a direct pathway into apprenticeship trades training at NAIT without having to first be a registered apprentice. In addition, it teaches the knowledge required to be a leader in the industry.

Thanks to the growth of environmental industries, ongoing infrastructure repair and the increasing rate of retirement among existing welders, there are many career paths in this industry for graduates to explore!

What you will learn
Industry-approved training
Students will not only master welding skills but be exposed to technologies that emerge in the welding industry. A student will also learn career essential skills that are in high demand by industry employers. Learning outcomes for this program include being able to:

• Identify safety hazards and comply with legislation
• Operate and maintain welding equipment. To perform welds using processes such as shielded metal arc, gas tungsten, and wire feed processes including gas metal arc, flux core, and metal core
• Perform various thermal cutting processes
• Demonstrate and analyze product creation and efficiencies
• Identify and describe metals and their properties
• Demonstrate effective written and verbal communications skills appropriate for the industry

Accounting is the foundation for business, ensuring profitability and a source for strategic decisions. If you’re someone that enjoys detail-oriented, analytical work, this field will provide a challenging career.

In this program you’ll learn financial theory and develop technical expertise in accounting. In our hands-on classroom environment, we will teach manual accounting techniques as well as current software applications so you can stay competitive in an ever-in-demand industry. You’ll also benefit from managerial courses that will expand your knowledge and prepare you to work in supervisory positions.

Are you up for the challenge? Pursue a career that’s driven by data and critical to the success of business.

What You Will Learn
Hands-on, industry-relevant skills
In the first year of the program, all business students take the same 10 foundational courses in order to gain core business knowledge. In the second year of studies, you will take the required courses to get a specialized accounting diploma upon graduation. 

We foster skill development in personal and corporate taxation, external auditing and accounting information systems with an understanding of quantitative analysis techniques and creating connections to financial data.

Our accounting diploma program focuses on: 

• financial accounting
• internal and external auditing 
• data analysis 
• taxation 
• managerial accounting 
• budgeting 

The BBA with Entrepreneurship and Innovation emphasis will help you grow your entrepreneurial mindset and develop skills that are essential to transform business. You'll be led through business ventures from the ground up, focusing on how to create financially, ethically and environmentally sustainable solutions in the marketplace. You'll have the ability to collaborate creatively, apply logic to problems, and complex inductive reasoning in an immersive setting. All entrepreneurship and innovation related courses have prerequisites, so it is important to carefully plan the order of studies.

The Advanced Plumbing Technology diploma is a unique opportunity to get the technical and career essential skills you need to succeed in the plumbing industry. The diploma program offers a direct pathway into trades training at NAIT without having to first be a registered apprentice and can also serve as a pathway to apprenticeship.

The program focuses on theory and hands-on training required to master installation, repair, perform mechanical system maintenance and more. You will learn specific technical knowledge and get hands-on skills and experience. You will also get to explore new technologies and systems such as water recycling and re-use, solar and geothermal heating systems and water conservation.

Industry-approved training
A career in plumbing calls for an understanding of both technical knowledge and career essential skills. Learning outcomes for this program include:

• Industry standards, legislation and workplace expectations
• Design, installation and maintenance of all relevant systems, including:
  • Gas systems
  • Hydronic heating systems and gas appliances
  • Potable and non-potable water systems
  • Service drainage, waste and vent (DWV) systems
• Design, interpretation and conversion of drawings for plumbing installations
• Mathematical concepts for plumbing installations, and
• Effective written and verbal communication tools

The program content and structure aligns with Alberta Credential Framework expectations. After completing the program, you will have the technical training comparable to a journeyperson plumber.
After completing the program, you will be eligible to enter into an apprenticeship and complete apprenticeship hours to receive a journeyperson’s certificate.

In this comprehensive diploma program, students study thermodynamics, electricity and electronics, and refrigeration and air conditioning. Students also gain skills in mechanical drafting, blueprint reading, technical mathematics and physics. Industrial development continues to result in the expansion of work responsibilities for Power Engineers. Provincial Legislation requires the certification of employees before they assume responsibilities in heating and power plants. There are five certificate levels: 5th Class, 4th Class, 3rd Class, 2nd Class and 1st Class.

NAIT's Power Engineering Technology Diploma (two year) program will be delivering curriculum to prepare the student to write the 4th Class, 3rd Class and three of the six papers for 2nd Class ABSA Administered Provincial Examinations. ABSA Regulations dictate a 100% Attendance Policy that is in place.

The Power Engineering Technology (2 Year Diploma) program prepares students for progression through the 4th Class, 3rd Class and 2nd Class - Part A ABSA levels by providing both theoretical and practical training. The intent of the program is to prepare graduates to make both safety and efficiency a priority on the job. Students must pass all courses and attend a minimum of 80% of the theory classes, 100% of the labs and 100% of the plant practicum to successfully complete the program.

The work responsibilities of Power Engineers increases in complexity according to the level of ABSA Certification. Typically, the work includes:

assisting in the operation and maintenance of boilers, pumps, compressors, fans, turbines, refrigeration units, heating systems and other related equipment
working as a shift engineer coordinating the operational and maintenance activities of assistant engineers engaged in the constant control and surveillance of power plant equipment

The Industrial Heavy Equipment Technology diploma program with teach you how to diagnose and repair machinery in the heavy equipment industry competently and safely. The program focuses on highway and off-highway mobile equipment, as well as engine-powered stationary equipment used in mining, logging, trucking, agriculture, gas processing, oilfield servicing and construction.

Industries including mining, logging, trucking, agriculture, transportation, gas processing, oilfield servicing and construction are all in-demand for heavy equipment service personnel with an advanced level of technical training to tackle the challenge of advancing technology.

What You Will Learn
Hands-on, industry-relevant training
Industrial Heavy Equipment Technology is a two-year diploma program consisting of four 15-week semesters. Studies include

• Fluid mechanics
• Petroleum chemistry
• Fuel and hydraulic systems
• Electricity and electronics
• Fleet maintenance
• Communications
• Leadership

The training is divided equally into theoretical and practical learning. Local industrial field trips will be taken.

Train at NAIT
Students can expect to spend, on average

• 30 hours per week attending classes over the course of a semester
• 10 to 12 hours per week studying and completing class assignments

Training is provided at NAIT Main Campus in Edmonton. Some training is also delivered in the NAIT HET Building (11940 - 109 st NW), just north of Main Campus. Labs are fully equipped with mock-ups and training aids, which students disassemble, inspect and reassemble.

NAIT’s Materials Engineering Technology Program prepares students for a diverse and rewarding career in their profession. Our graduates have employment opportunities in a wide variety of industrial settings including oil and gas, chemical processing, mining, construction, pulp and paper and research and development.

A Materials Engineering Technologist is an important member of the engineering team. Our curriculum has been developed in close co-operation with industry leaders ensuring our students have relevant hands on experience and theoretical instruction. They will have a working knowledge of the properties and behavior of engineering materials in a range of environments.

A Materials Engineering Technologist’s expertise is sought after by industry for their understanding of metals, polymers, ceramics and composites. Technologists give advice in material selection, asset and integrity inspections, weld inspections and fabrication. In laboratory settings they are involved in research and development, failure analysis and material testing. Many of our Alumni have gone on to start their own successful businesses and employ our graduates.