Everyone knows the restaurant where the familiar refrain is: “Do you want fries with that?”
Its managers are now also saying: “Do you want a degree with that?”
In a first for Vancouver Island, McDonald’s employees can put their management experience on the job toward a business degree at North Island College.
A credit agreement signed Nov. 30 enables McDonald’s employees who have completed the fast-food restaurant’s management-training modules to receive credit for eight courses in the college’s bachelor of business administration degree program. The program requires students to complete 40 courses.
Bill Parkinson, the community college’s associate dean of arts, science and technology, developed the agreement with the restaurant chain. It’s all about accessibility to education for people who have done training at McDonald’s, Parkinson said.
“It’s awesome to be part of this,” he said. “It’s something that satisfies the needs of our students, their workers, plus North Island College and McDonald’s management.”
College president John Bowman said the program will save new students time and about $2,300 in tuition fees.
“The high-quality training that McDonald’s offers is equivalent to many NIC business courses, so we’re happy to be able to certify it on behalf of the college,” Bowman said.
Brandon Sawyer, 24, from Port Alberni, was the first student to benefit from the program. He wants to become an accountant.
Sawyer applied to North Island College’s business school as well as the local McDonald’s in Courtenay, unaware that the deal was in the works.
Stuart Aldred, owner and operator of the Comox Valley’s four McDonald’s restaurants, gave Sawyer the good news.
“I was ecstatic,” Sawyer said.
Sawyer’s management work experience will qualify for course credits: “When I first applied to McDonald’s [at age 16], everyone told me McDonald’s looks great on a resumé because of the training — and I didn’t believe them. But they were right.”
He said he is finding that his management experience has prepared him for his first-year courses.
Aldred said the partnership is part of McDonald’s effort to provide its staff with opportunities for growth and development.
The agreement is between North Island College and the McDonald’s Corp., so employees outside the Comox Valley can also participate.
The college has campuses throughout the North Island, and several of its courses are available online through distance education. McDonald’s has about 30 locations throughout Vancouver Island.
“Someone from Victoria could take their full first year of their program online,” Parkinson said.
“If they wanted to continue on, they could look at transferring their credits to Camosun [College] in Victoria, for example, and we are looking at adding second- and third-year online courses.”
