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MINISTER OF ADVANCED EDUCATION

Minister of Advanced Education to visit Grande Prairie Regional College this week amid critiques of Alberta’s post-secondary system

Sep 30, 2019 | 12:00 PM

The Minister of Advanced Education will be coming to Grande Prairie Regional College on Wednesday.

Part of his tour of post-secondary schools across Alberta, Demetrios Nicolaides says he is excited to see what Grande Prairie has to offer.

“As I’m finding throughout this tour, every institution is quite unique and there are no two institutions that are alike, so I’m really interested and excited to find out more about what makes Grande Prairie Regional College so unique.”

Nicolaides will be touring colleges, universities and polytechnics to see how the institutions operate and to get feedback from students to see how the current post-secondary system is working.

The original stop date for Grande Prairie was September 19 but has been rescheduled to October 2.

This comes after a recent report done on Alberta’s finances has pointed out issues it finds in the post-secondary system, including a dependence on government grants and high costs to students and a low completion rate. It also recommended a consolidation of 26 institutions

Nicolaides has not announced any immediate changes being made to the system in terms of finances yet but says it the findings are telling.

“Obviously one might expect that if you have a more expensive system and you’re putting more money into it, that you’re generating and producing superior results, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. So, I’m quite intrigued to be able to get a deeper understanding of what’s driving the high cost environment.”

Last week, he announced a new 19-member task force focused on bolstering enrolment in apprenticeship programs and skilled trades. He says a decline in youth employment as well as the upcoming retirement of many skilled trades workers have been the main issues that got the task force started, as well as public idea of skilled trades.

“If you pursue a career in a trade, it’s not viewed as having the same value and worth of having a university degree, and our position has been very clear from the very beginning. We believe that a trade certificate has the same value, merit and worth as a university degree, and so that public perception, I think is part of the problem.”

Nicolaides says that from 2016 to 2024, Alberta will see about 3,000 skilled workers retire.

The president of NAIT, Glenn Feltham, and the SAIT president and CEO David Ross will head the new task force. A full list of the task force members can be found here.

Another issue the task force hopes to explore is to promote the enrolment of women into apprenticeship programs and skilled trades.

“About 5 percent of skilled workers are women, and that shouldn’t be the case, and it’s a problem that we’ve acknowledged even outside of the task force though. Last week, I was quite proud to be able to make a $10 million investment overt four years to Women Building Futures.” Says Nicolaides.

Women Building Futures is an organization that encourages and assists women to pursue careers in the trades.

Nicolaides says he is confident in the task force and is looking forward to hearing their recommendations.