Dr. Peter Nunoda, RDC President

By Sheldon Spackman

year in review

RDC president proud of ‘team effort’ in dealing with pandemic

Dec 29, 2020 | 1:53 PM

The president of Red Deer College says COVID-19 has been a challenge no one could have anticipated, but he’s very proud of how the college has responded.

Dr. Peter Nunoda says that includes faculty, staff and administration who did everything in their power to help students successfully complete their courses over the last two terms.

“If there’s a shining positive to come out of this year, it is the ability, resilience and adaptability that we’ve demonstrated,” says Nunoda. “And it is a two-way street – students have pivoted marvelously as well to online learning.

“That’s one of the true positives here and that underscores the fact we have great people and great students here. If we work together, we can be very successful.”

Nunoda highlighted a recent student experience survey of 750 students in which 60 per cent said they were either satisfied or very satisfied with their online learning experience.

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“I think learning has been transformed and I don’t think it’s necessarily going to go back to the way it was pre-pandemic,” he suggests. “I think we’ll have more options as far as blended learning goes, which will make post-secondary learning more accessible to people across the province. In some cases, students may not have to leave their hometowns to be enrolled in an RDC program.”

Nunoda acknowledged several RDC accomplishments over the past 12 months, including having its Centre for Innovation in Manufacturing given Technology Access Centre status by the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), as well as $3.75 million in funding over the next five years for the centre.

RDC also received accreditation from Technology Canada for its mechanical and electrical engineering technology programs, and recently received national accreditation for its Occupational and Physical Therapy assistant programs.

Like all businesses, municipalities, individuals, and organizations, Nunoda says belt tightening has certainly come with the territory.

“We’ve managed to reduce costs pretty effectively across the college. Our model is very strong that way. What we intend to do now is explore the revenue side of the equation because I think that’s where we’re going to find sustainability.”

He laments, however, that COVID-19 has put RDC in a position where it had to reduce its workforce, at least temporarily.

“We did have to say goodbye to some employees permanently,” says Nunoda. “Our objective is to grow the college, both in terms of staffing and most importantly enrollment. If you have more students, you require more staff.”

He added, “It’s a balancing act and there have been some tough decisions. But I believe we made those reductions both strategically and respectfully towards the people involved.”

Looking ahead, Nunoda says RDC is waiting eagerly on the results of the government’s post-secondary system review.

“It’s clear to me that we will have the report from the McKinsey Group by the end of January, and that will set the stage for what post-secondary education in Alberta will look like for about the next decade or so.

“We truly believe based on a number of things we’ve heard in terms of creating programs, that there will be a tremendous focus on labour market demand and the employability of our graduates. “Fortunately for us, that’s a space we’ve always occupied.”

Following that, an update on the college’s university status is anticipated.

“We’re waiting on the system review to give us what the final direction from government will be,” says Nunoda. “This wasn’t the first year I dreamed of when I took the job, but in difficult times, people show their true colours, so I’m tremendously proud of everyone involved in the college community and it’s truly an honour to lead a group like this. I think there are great things to come for us, both in the near future and long-term.”