CFOT.ca

Since as early as 1989 Colleges for Officer Training in the Canada and Bermuda Territory have had a unique partnership with the William and Catherine Booth College.The initial relationship, forged in 1989, allows for all officers who have completed their training at CFOT to be given 35 credits towards an undergraduate degree in Bible and Theology, should they choose to enter the program.

Soon after this time, it was recognized that the extent and depth of training received at the CFOT could be given much greater recognition if a more deliberate partnership were to be developed between the colleges. And so in 1996, the CFOT in Toronto underwent a self study and a realignment of their curriculum. By 1998, an Education Task force was convened to assess the possibility of a more formalized partnership between the CFOTs and Booth College.

As a result of the work of the task force, an articulation agreement was reached between the Colleges for Officer Training and Booth College which would allow for the recognition of 76 credit hours of an undergraduate degree on courses offered through the training program. It also enabled the Colleges for Officer Training in both Toronto and St. John’s to be recognized as satellite teaching centers for Booth College. With this new arrangement in place, coupled with graduate level trained teaching staff, the colleges for offer training were able to open their doors to cadets and lay students alike, who desired to take advantage of full credit courses available through an “Army” institution. And so with the arrival of the “Crossbearers” session of cadets, another “new era” of training had begun.

Because of the residency stipulations attached to the accreditation requirements of Booth College, the single hurdle that would be faced by commissioned officers would be the necessity for at least 24 credit hours of course work to be done either on site at Booth College or by Booth College faculty. With the arrival of the College for Officer Training in Winnipeg in September of 2005, this hurdle was cleared through the unique opportunity cadets now have to have a portion of their training facilitated by courses taught directly at Booth College, with Booth College faculty. Conversely, Booth College students also have the opportunity to take many of the courses taught at CFOT, whether as part of their core program or as electives.

Officers commissioned in 2007 and beyond are now able to complete their undergraduate degrees though a variety of options and institutions as available, as part of the ongoing initiative of the Leadership Development Department at THQ to ensure that the officers of the 21st century are equipped for the complexities of ministry through the highest possible quality of training that can be provided in the context of the international mandate for training.