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There were a couple of stories from the Daily News this past week that caught our interest, but time worked against us in delivering. Both involved the college and university level of education in the province.
The first one was about the desire from Northwest Community College to advocate in favor of more funding for aboriginal education initiatives.
The first one was about the desire from Northwest Community College to advocate in favor of more funding for aboriginal education initiatives.
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The second one highlighted some of the achievements in research that have been happening at the University of Northern British Columbia and how that has resulted in a high ranking for the university in recently published university ranking lists compiled by the firm InfoSource.
The two stories appeared in Monday and Tuesday’s editions of the Daily News.
COLLEGE SEEKS HELP SUPPORTING ABORIGINAL STUDENTS
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Monday, October 29, 2007
Pages one and three
Northwest Community College would like to see the provincial government provide more funding for aboriginal education initiatives.
Speaking to the province’s Finance Committee hearing in Terrace last month, Diane Ready, the vice-president of finance and administration at Northwest Community College, said the college has established wonderful partnerships aimed at helping prepare First Nations students for the workforce.
However, there are also many challenges.
“NWCC is not like other mainstream colleges in B. C. Our large aboriginal population makes us significantly different and presents us with extraordinary challenges. We are unable to keep up with the student supports and transition needs of our at risk and aboriginal learners,” she said.
“Unlike publicly funded aboriginal institutions NWCC is funded as if it were a mainstream institution. It is not adequately funded to provide the outreach, literacy, transition and student supports required of our aboriginal learners.”
She urged members of the committee to consider a pre-program and service funding model that is on par with other aboriginal institutions in the province.
One of the challenges in fully engaging the aboriginal community is the lack of on-campus housing for aboriginal students.
“The college struggles to maintain, let alone renew, our teaching and learning facilities, given a scarcity of annual capital allowance funds,” said Ready.
“We need support for the construction of on-campus housing for aboriginal students, one of the many barriers to aboriginal learners participating is housing for single parents and families. With the resurgence of the housing market in the Northwest, finding adequate and affordable housing is proving increasingly challenging.”
She also argued the funding should be available, given the economic contribution the college makes to the provincial economy.
Students benefit from higher earnings, thereby expanding the tax base and reducing the tax burden on provincial taxpayers, Ready said.
“When aggregated together, students generate about $8.2 million annually in higher earnings due to their NWCC education,” said Ready.
“As many as 95 percent of students stay in the region initially, after they leave college, and contribute to the local economy.
“The aboriginal population is critical to the revitalized economy and is on a steady rise, while the non-aboriginal population is in significant decline.
“With employment rates in aboriginal communities still in the order of 37 percent to 80 percent, aboriginal people represent an increased portion of the labour force.”
The deadline for submissions to the budget committee was on Friday.
The committee must present its report to the Legislative Assembly by November 15 for consideration.
UNBC GETS TOP GRADES FOR LEADING THE FIELD IN RESEARCH
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Pages one and two
The University of Northern B. C. has received accolades for the amount of research it is undertaking, including its work on the North Coast.
Last week, it was named one of Canada’s top Research Universities of the Year in a national ranking of Canada’s research-intensive universities.
Only universities that place within the top three in their size category have the distinction of being a ‘Research University of the Year’.
UNBC placed third among the 20 small universities.
The ranking is conducted by Research InfoSource and was published in the National Post.
Universities are assessed on a number of criteria related to research funding and research publications.
The 2007 ranking is based on data from the 2005-06 fiscal year.
“The reason for our success is simple: we have the best faculty in the country,” said Don Corzetto, UNBC president.
“They’re connected with numerous industry groups, communities, and government agencies such as Northern Health, to both ensure that the community is part of the research process as well as the dissemination and application of the research results.”
Overall, UNBC has ranked 29th among Canadian universities, placing better than many universities that are much larger and older than UNBC. For example, UNBC placed one point ahead of the University of Regina, which has nearly 13,000 students. UNBC has a little more than 4,000.
In the 2005-06 fiscal year, UNBC attracted nearly $16 million in research funding, a 90 percent increase over the results from the previous year. This large annual increase is due to a number of new developments during 2005-06: research funding for the new National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health, the acquisition of state-of-the-art forestry research equipment to assess fibre quality, the expansion of UNBC’s high-performance computing centre, and the addition of health research equipment.
Work on the North Coast in recent years included research by Dr. Laurie Chan, B. C. Leadership Chair in Aboriginal Environmental Health, on a dietary survey and risk assessment in Kitkatla in order to determine the potential impact of the sunken Queen of the North ferry on shellfish and seaweed.
Dr. Caroline Butler received a Fulbright award in 2006 to study the effects of fishery policies on fishing enterprises and coastal communities.
Most recently, she participated in the fourth annual Steelhead Symposium, which brought together researchers from across North America to Prince Rupert to discuss the impacts of development of a container port at Fairview Terminal.
The expansion of research at UNBC relates to the growth in graduate students at the University. About 14 percent of UNBC students are pursuing Master’s or doctoral degrees and they are vital to the research process.
The two stories appeared in Monday and Tuesday’s editions of the Daily News.
COLLEGE SEEKS HELP SUPPORTING ABORIGINAL STUDENTS
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Monday, October 29, 2007
Pages one and three
Northwest Community College would like to see the provincial government provide more funding for aboriginal education initiatives.
Speaking to the province’s Finance Committee hearing in Terrace last month, Diane Ready, the vice-president of finance and administration at Northwest Community College, said the college has established wonderful partnerships aimed at helping prepare First Nations students for the workforce.
However, there are also many challenges.
“NWCC is not like other mainstream colleges in B. C. Our large aboriginal population makes us significantly different and presents us with extraordinary challenges. We are unable to keep up with the student supports and transition needs of our at risk and aboriginal learners,” she said.
“Unlike publicly funded aboriginal institutions NWCC is funded as if it were a mainstream institution. It is not adequately funded to provide the outreach, literacy, transition and student supports required of our aboriginal learners.”
She urged members of the committee to consider a pre-program and service funding model that is on par with other aboriginal institutions in the province.
One of the challenges in fully engaging the aboriginal community is the lack of on-campus housing for aboriginal students.
“The college struggles to maintain, let alone renew, our teaching and learning facilities, given a scarcity of annual capital allowance funds,” said Ready.
“We need support for the construction of on-campus housing for aboriginal students, one of the many barriers to aboriginal learners participating is housing for single parents and families. With the resurgence of the housing market in the Northwest, finding adequate and affordable housing is proving increasingly challenging.”
She also argued the funding should be available, given the economic contribution the college makes to the provincial economy.
Students benefit from higher earnings, thereby expanding the tax base and reducing the tax burden on provincial taxpayers, Ready said.
“When aggregated together, students generate about $8.2 million annually in higher earnings due to their NWCC education,” said Ready.
“As many as 95 percent of students stay in the region initially, after they leave college, and contribute to the local economy.
“The aboriginal population is critical to the revitalized economy and is on a steady rise, while the non-aboriginal population is in significant decline.
“With employment rates in aboriginal communities still in the order of 37 percent to 80 percent, aboriginal people represent an increased portion of the labour force.”
The deadline for submissions to the budget committee was on Friday.
The committee must present its report to the Legislative Assembly by November 15 for consideration.
UNBC GETS TOP GRADES FOR LEADING THE FIELD IN RESEARCH
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Pages one and two
The University of Northern B. C. has received accolades for the amount of research it is undertaking, including its work on the North Coast.
Last week, it was named one of Canada’s top Research Universities of the Year in a national ranking of Canada’s research-intensive universities.
Only universities that place within the top three in their size category have the distinction of being a ‘Research University of the Year’.
UNBC placed third among the 20 small universities.
The ranking is conducted by Research InfoSource and was published in the National Post.
Universities are assessed on a number of criteria related to research funding and research publications.
The 2007 ranking is based on data from the 2005-06 fiscal year.
“The reason for our success is simple: we have the best faculty in the country,” said Don Corzetto, UNBC president.
“They’re connected with numerous industry groups, communities, and government agencies such as Northern Health, to both ensure that the community is part of the research process as well as the dissemination and application of the research results.”
Overall, UNBC has ranked 29th among Canadian universities, placing better than many universities that are much larger and older than UNBC. For example, UNBC placed one point ahead of the University of Regina, which has nearly 13,000 students. UNBC has a little more than 4,000.
In the 2005-06 fiscal year, UNBC attracted nearly $16 million in research funding, a 90 percent increase over the results from the previous year. This large annual increase is due to a number of new developments during 2005-06: research funding for the new National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health, the acquisition of state-of-the-art forestry research equipment to assess fibre quality, the expansion of UNBC’s high-performance computing centre, and the addition of health research equipment.
Work on the North Coast in recent years included research by Dr. Laurie Chan, B. C. Leadership Chair in Aboriginal Environmental Health, on a dietary survey and risk assessment in Kitkatla in order to determine the potential impact of the sunken Queen of the North ferry on shellfish and seaweed.
Dr. Caroline Butler received a Fulbright award in 2006 to study the effects of fishery policies on fishing enterprises and coastal communities.
Most recently, she participated in the fourth annual Steelhead Symposium, which brought together researchers from across North America to Prince Rupert to discuss the impacts of development of a container port at Fairview Terminal.
The expansion of research at UNBC relates to the growth in graduate students at the University. About 14 percent of UNBC students are pursuing Master’s or doctoral degrees and they are vital to the research process.
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