{"id":232500,"date":"2019-09-26T03:11:34","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T07:11:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=232500"},"modified":"2019-09-26T03:11:34","modified_gmt":"2019-09-26T07:11:34","slug":"albertas-advanced-education-minister-says-action-coming-on-mackinnon-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/09\/26\/albertas-advanced-education-minister-says-action-coming-on-mackinnon-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta’s advanced education minister says action coming on MacKinnon report"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FILE: Pictured is Demetrios Nicolaides, Minister Advance Education. (Photo<\/a>: Premier of Alberta\/Flickr<\/a>, CC BY-ND 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

EDMONTON — Alberta’s advanced education minister says he hopes to soon announce action on a report that characterizes the province’s post-secondary network as rudderless and rife with duplication.<\/p>\n

Demetrios Nicolaides was noncommittal Wednesday about how he will respond to the report’s recommendation to consolidate the 26 schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t think anyone wants to look at the option of shutting down an institution,\u201d Nicolaides said while at an announcement of a new committee to look at boosting participation in skills trades.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re still looking through all of the recommendations and trying to figure out what the next steps will be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nicolaides said a decision on whether to remove a cap on tuition, as recommended in the report, will be addressed when the budget is delivered Oct. 24.<\/p>\n

The report on provincial spending, from a panel chaired by former Saskatchewan finance minister Janice MacKinnon, was released earlier this month. United Conservative Premier Jason Kenney has said it will guide the budget and other long-term policy decisions.<\/p>\n

The report is highly critical of Alberta’s $5.6-billion post-secondary system. It says it is overly dependent on government grants, lacks policy direction tied to provincial goals and has extensive overlap along with poor completion rates in some schools.<\/p>\n

It urges a fundamental rethink of how the institutions are funded and directed, how they can raise funds and whether it would make more sense to consolidate resources in fewer institutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere does not appear to be an overall direction for Alberta’s post-secondary system,\u201d the report concludes.<\/p>\n

It says the province needs a cost-conscious post-secondary system linked to government priorities, including meeting labour market demand and expanding research and technology commercialization.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government should move quickly to address the future of those post-secondary institutions that do not appear to be viable in future funding scenarios,\u201d says the report.<\/p>\n

Nicolaides said he agrees with the report’s findings and his department is looking at options on how to get feedback from schools, including a panel with representatives from all institutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re still working through some of the details and hope to be able to have some clarity quite soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nicolaides made the comments as he announced a new 19-member panel that is to focus on boosting apprenticeship enrolment along with raising the profile and value of trade skills.<\/p>\n

The panel, headed by presidents of technology institutes in northern and southern Alberta, is to deliver an interim report by early next year and a final one later in 2020.<\/p>\n

Glenn Feltham, president of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, said one goal will be to debunk a misconception that skills trades have lesser merit than academic degrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cSkilled trades should attract the very best and brightest people that have a passion for working with their hands,\u201d said Feltham.<\/p>\n

NDP advanced education critic David Eggen said the panel is a step in the right direction, but suggested it could be moot depending on larger policy decisions made by Nicolaides.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe MacKinnon report suggests the UCP should jack up tuition and slash grants to the very institutions that provide this training to Albertans,\u201d Eggen said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope the UCP will see that our post-secondary institutions need investment, not austerity, to deliver the skills training Albertans deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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