The province is about to embark on a review of Saskatchewan's regional college system, and while it is something the Regional College Act requires, it may be one of the most important reviews of the system undertaken.
The regional college system has evolved substantially over the years. It was once a system which focused a lot of attention on individual development, primarily for adults. Courses might have included watercolour art for beginners, or creative writing, or Chinese cooking.
Today though regional colleges are just that, colleges, with the primary focus being on post secondary eduction.
In the role of educating people with an eye to career development, what is offered has changed as well. Today students tend to be on one of two paths through the regional college system, at least in the case of Parkland College in East Central Saskatchewan.
Many students are taking college and technical training classes with an eye to achieving a degree down the road. Often the first year, or two of classes are available locally, which can help reduce costs for students who can remain at home, in the initial years of the course. Those students usually end up progressing to a larger campus for the final years of the course.
Such class options can be important in allowing some students access to education at a more affordable cost.
Then there are courses which offer specific education which will help graduates access specific jobs, such as heavy equipment operators, or courses specific to a particular business such as courses locally for the new canola crushing plants.
This side of education can be a major strength of the regional collage system. By being smaller, and more maneuverable in providing courses, regional collages can move more quickly to provide industry specific training. That flexibility is critical in the case of new business development, such as the canola crushing sector, and in filling needs of mature industries too. We see that in efforts to provide training to meet the shortfalls in the expanding potash sector. While a mature industry, to grow moving forward, the potash sector will require trained technical staff, and the regional college system is ideally suited to help students prepare to fill those roles.
For the upcoming review Advanced Education, Employment and Immigration Minister Rob Norris has announced Dr. Michael Atkinson, Executive Director and Professor of the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, will lead the review process.
From the beginning there are things Atkinson needs to remember as he looks at the future of the regional college system.
They need to remain able to adjust, and move quickly to fill evolving educational needs.
The colleges also need to operate without pressures from existing large universities and technical institutes, who may look at course expansion at the regional level as imposing on their turf. Post secondary education has to be looked at on the whole, with no single institution having exclusive educational rights, if it makes more sense to deliver that education somewhere else.
And, the province has to make sure to fund the regional system appropriately. That funding needs to include course development, college facilities, and longer term, even student housing, if the system is going to serve those taking courses.
Certainly the regional college system has proven its worth in the past, and moving forward can offer more in terms of education to prepare students to for a role on an ever-changing economy.
