By rdnewsNOW staff

Best Of Both Worlds

RDC anticipating polytechnic, not university status

Jan 23, 2021 | 11:35 AM

Although no final decisions have been made as of yet, it appears as though Red Deer College (RDC) may no longer be on the path towards becoming a university.

On Friday, College officials acknowledged Minister of Advanced Education, Demetrios Nicolaides has indicated RDC may transition to polytechnic status instead.

As RDC prepares for its future while waiting on completion of the government’s post-secondary system review, College officials are excited for the opportunity to continue serving students through the full breadth of credentials it offers now, with the inclusion of its own degrees.

With the government’s final report (Alberta 2030: Building Skills for Jobs) anticipated sometime over the coming months, RDC is said to be confident in its ability to develop and offer its own degrees for students, no matter what the name of the institution might be.

“Given our conversations with the Ministry of Advanced Education, we anticipate RDC could become a polytechnic institution under the Alberta 2030 framework from the post-secondary system review,” says Guy Pelletier, Chair of RDC’s Board of Governors. “While this would be a different name than expected, in that we would not be a university, it would still allow our institution to serve students with our full complement of existing credentials plus our own degrees. That was, and continues to be, our goal to best serve students and surrounding communities.”

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Granting degrees is noted as one facet of the polytechnic model while retaining a range of credentials that includes trades programming is another.

As RDC President Dr. Peter Nunoda describes, the polytechnic designation would be the best way for RDC to achieve this within the mandated designations of the Post-secondary Learning Act.

“As an institution, we are very supportive of the polytechnic model because it offers a unique designation that would allow us to support our students, partners, industry and community members,” he explains. “For me, the most important thing is what we will be able to achieve. As a polytechnic, we would be able to partner with government and industry to produce highly employable graduates that meet the ever-changing needs of the labour market.”

Nunoda says RDC would be innovative, allowing students to integrate work-integrated learning into their studies for all programs.

“Plus, we would be able to offer our own degrees while keeping trades programming, and that is an absolute win for this entire region.”

While Pelletier and Nunoda acknowledge that some people in the community may be disheartened if RDC does not become a university, they are hopeful that the positive opportunities and outcomes of a polytechnic model would soon become apparent.

The pair say a polytechnic would allow the institution to build on its history, while forging a new path to best serve students now and in the future.

“What is most important for post-secondary students in this region is to ensure they have increasing choices that allow them to stay close to family and friends,” says Brittany Lausen, President of RDC’s Students’ Association. “This can be achieved by RDC offering everything it does now, plus having the ability to grant its own degrees.”

In a letter to both Red Deer College and Grande Prairie Regional College on Thursday, Minister Nicolaides cited a current gap in the range of post-secondary programs available at the two colleges.

“If Red Deer College and Grande Prairie Regional College were to become universities it would create a new gap in the programs available in these regions,” he remarked. “This would place important and necessary programs at risk, such as the trades, as they do not fit in a university mandate. Students in the trades and in other vital programs would be forced to travel outside these regions to pursue their education.”

Red Deer – South MLA Jason Stephan has also spoken out in favour of the new direction being taken.

“RDC is more similar to NAIT and SAIT which are not universities, but polytechnic institutions,” wrote Stephan in an Op-ed to local media this week. “University status is not a necessary condition for offering degrees; NAIT and SAIT are not universities and they offer degrees.”

“RDC is working with the Ministry for degree approvals in the shorter term, and for increased freedom and autonomy in the longer term, to innovate and offer more applied, practical degrees and programs to better meet the evolving needs of individuals, families and businesses in our community,” added Stephan.

College officials conclude that the concept of a polytechnic institution fulfills RDC’s future goals, so they will now await the final decision from the Government of Alberta at the conclusion of the post-secondary system review.

Once this occurs, RDC, in partnership with government, will officially announce its new model to students, employees and community members.