Northwestern Polytechnic looks towards building on strengths and values in region

With the final step in transitioning to Northwestern Polytechnic officially complete, officials are looking forward to the future of the institution.

Northwestern Polytechnic President and CEO Justin Kohlman says as a polytechnic they have an opportunity to “launch forward based on values that are important to the region.”

“That’s what this is about, it’s about the entire region working together and aligning to the needs of our region in a way we could not do as a college.”

Over the last several months, Kohlman says a lot of research had been done to determine the core values of the region. Throughout that time, he explains ‘entrepreneur’ continually came up as the core value and heartbeat of this region.

With that, the goal for NWP is to become Canada’s most entrepreneurial polytechnic by 2034.

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“We are building off of our community’s strength and this is a community built on entrepreneurship. This is the most entrepreneurial community probably in Canada, so what it means is we are truly aligning to our community.”

Kohlman explains that in order to get there, a lot of smaller goals will need to be accomplished along the way.

“We envision doing a lot of things to have our faculty and staff getting more opportunities and more training, bringing in more students from around the globe and really differentiating ourselves so that students are coming here, not just local students, but all students because it is the best option.”

Alberta’s Minister of Advanced Education Demetrios Nicolaides says having a polytechnic institution in Northern Alberta is the strongest option to fit the needs of both students and the workforce.

“The community needs programs in trades, apprenticeship education and many other areas that could be at risk if the institution moved to become a university, we don’t have universities that offer trades programs or apprenticeship education, the community needs those programs so we have to make sure the institution is aligning the programming with what the community needs and being a polytechnic helps ensure that.”

Nicolaides says the more they are able to build the connection between educational opportunities and employment opportunities., the better it is for the province and students.

“Part of the mandate of a polytechnic is to expand programming in applied areas, hands-on areas, which are really important because they help to connect students to job opportunities and, that is critical. It is always one of the top reasons why students look at the post-secondary program they are choosing because they want to pursue a career in that area or want to upgrade their career,” he explained.

“The more we can do to build a connection between educational opportunities and jobs, the better off they will be and the better off the province will be as well.”

With this being the third polytechnic institution in Alberta, Nicolaides suggests it helps the province to offer applied, hands-on education for post-secondary students in Calgary, Edmonton, and now officially in Grande Prairie.

“As the economy is now starting to take off as well, we will have more and more demand for skilled trade professionals and skilled workers, just more generally, so we need to ensure that our institutions are offering those programs that are going to connect students to those job opportunities.”

A big focus of Budget 2022 was the Alberta at Work initiative to help connect Albertans to job opportunities. Nicolaides says moving forward with Northwestern Polytechnic’s transition was crucial to align with their initiative.