Episode #91: He Can't Sell Sonography Machines. There's No One to Run Them with Dr. Sherif William
Most career colleges operate inside an office park or a downtown tower. Mississauga Career College operates inside a building that also houses a private school, a museum, a family service center, a food bank — and two churches, one of them so striking it stopped host Michael Sangster mid-sentence when he walked through the door.
Dr. Sherif William, a medical doctor by training who arrived in Canada and found his way into career college education in 2018, now directs the college. It's owned by a not-for-profit charity built specifically to serve newcomers to Canada — and the model shows up everywhere, from a personal support worker program that's graduated nearly 700 students directly into local care homes, to a free tuition policy for students who genuinely can't pay, with every dollar of revenue cycling back into community programs like food banks and orphan support.
In this episode of the EdUp Canada Podcast, Sherif walks Michael through what it actually takes to get a 2,400-hour diagnostic sonography program approved in Ontario — a three-year process derailed midway by a regulatory rule change that sent them back to square one. He explains the college's unusual pre-medical pathway, which guarantees acceptance into four Caribbean medical schools for students who complete two years and hit an 80% success threshold. And he talks about a partnership with ACHEV, a government-funded settlement organization offering low-interest student loans specifically for newcomers training in regulated health programs.
It's a conversation about regulation, community, and what a career college can look like when its mission is community service first and everything else second.
What to expect
[00:02:00] — A College Built for Newcomers, By Design
[00:03:30] — The First Call He Made
[00:04:30] — Inside the Building: A School, a Museum, Two Churches, and a Family Service Center
[00:07:00] — Three Years, Two Sets of Rules
[00:09:00] — "He Cannot Sell Machines"
[00:10:30] — A Guaranteed Path Into Medical School
[00:18:30] — "Show Up in Your Perfect Way"
[00:22:30] — Free Tuition, No Questions Asked Publicly
Read the full transcript here: https://share.descript.com/view/1iW4ge9LZKn