In terms of local post-secondary education a rather major partnership was signed last week.
The presidents of the First Nations University of Canada and Parkland College signed a partnership Thursday for delivery of a four-year Bachelor of Indigenous Education program at Parkland College’s Yorkton Campus. This delivery is based on the successful partnership started in 2012 at Parkland College’s Fort Qu’Appelle Campus.
“This expansion brings more access to a complete post-secondary education right here in the Parkland region,” said Parkland College President Dwayne Reeve in a recent release.
While the agreement signing is significant in its own right, it speaks more to the future of education options through the college.
Parkland College is growing, and with that growth it is also evolving in terms of what it will be able to offer area students moving forward.
The new agreement builds on a growing base of four-year courses now available at the college, others being nursing and social work.
Being able to expand into full four-year courses will change the culture of the college.
In the past, with many courses being short-term in nature, students came and went without necessarily becoming part of the college experience associated with universities.
But four years creates an element of ‘college pride’ within a student body.
So far the four year offerings are a short list, but expect that to grow as the overall post-secondary education system comes to realize the value in taking courses to local regions rather than having all students move to a couple of centralized campuses.
Dr. Mark Dockstator, President, First Nations University of Canada spoke of the potential to see his organization partner with Parkland College on additional course delivery in the future.
Other partnerships are likely to create new course opportunities as well. An example being the agreement between the Parkland and the East Central Research Foundation (ECRF) which held their third annual research farm field day in July.
The event highlighted the partnership between the College and ECRF, which officially began with the signing of a memorandum of understanding in 2013 leading to collaborative work on agricultural applied research projects. This year there are 26 projects underway at two locations.
When you factor in the importance of agriculture here with canola, oat and flax processing facilities all located in the city, the College is well-situated to take on a greater role in agricultural education.
The Trades and Technology Centre will open in a few weeks and that too heralds in College growth and course expansion opportunities which will ultimately see the local facility take on a more defined ‘college atmosphere’.
That the new centre is the first of what is at least locally designed as a three-phase development, with future expansion to incorporate much-needed student residences, Yorkton will grow to be more of a ‘university-city’ in the years ahead, with all the vibrancy college students bring to a community helping create a new element locally.
It is a future for local post-secondary education we should look forward to as a community. It cannot come fast enough.
