Author of the article: Hamdi Issawi
Publishing date:Oct 05, 2021 •
Publishing date:Oct 05, 2021 •
Students walk through a canopy of fall colour at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, on Monday, Sept. 27, 2021.
Photo by Ian Kucerak PHOTO BY IAN KUCERAK /Postmedia
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The Alberta government’s plan to transform post-secondary education is “ill-advised and even dangerous,” a new think tank report warns.
On Tuesday, the Parkland Institute, a non-partisan research centre housed at the University of Alberta, released a report criticizing Alberta 2030: Building Skills for Jobs, the province’s 10-year plan to focus higher learning on job skills and training.
University of Lethbridge sociology professor Trevor Harrison, who is also a former director of the Parkland Institute, coauthored the report and said that the strategy proposes significant changes and cuts that will have a “radical and negative” effect on the province’s post-secondary education system.
“Alberta 2030 means reducing education to immediate jobs training and not preparing students for the labour market of the future, or for preparation for the kind of economy that we want in this province,” he said.
Part of the problem with the strategy, he added, is that it cites misleading statistics from Alberta’s 2019 MacKinnon report.
According to the MacKinnon report, University of Lethbridge economics professor Richard Mueller said, Alberta spends between $5,000 to $15,000 more per full-time student compared to Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia.
But those findings, he added, which aggregate all post-secondary institutions, including community colleges and vocational schools, are misleading.
“For many reasons, these community colleges and vocational schools were put in small, rural areas, and they’re very expensive to operate,” he said. But once those schools are separated from the results, “the numbers are totally different” from degree-granting institutions, he added.
“The numbers show that Alberta has higher costs in the college system, and not so much in the university system,” Mueller explained.
Rafat Alam, president of the faculty association at MacEwan University in Edmonton, agreed that the data from Alberta 2030 compares ”apples to oranges” in terms of per capita expenditure, and took issue with the plan’s mention of a performance-based funding model for institutions.
“It has been shown by academic literature too many times that performance-based funding does not offer any efficiency gain,” he said. “It is simply not effective.”
Alam was also concerned about the kind of graduates the Alberta 2030 strategy would produce in a post-COVID world needing economic recovery. Citing the Conference Board of Canada, a not-for-profit think thank that analyzes economic trends, Alam said the future of Alberta lies in a knowledge-based economy that depends on education, not training.
“What the university system is providing is education, which is more appropriate for a future diversified knowledge base,” he said.
Harrison added that Alberta’s economy has changed over the past 20 to 30 years, and that the oil and gas industry is not going to be a reliable economic driver in the future, given the unstable price of oil and the adoption of automation in the industry.
While the Alberta 2030 strategy focuses on developing specific skills and training for an economy that is rapidly changing, Harrison said, university and college education can provide the kind of “deep learning” and critical thinking skills that will be important in the future.
“If Alberta wants to get ahead of that curve, and prepare our students for that future economy, we need to have a kind of fulsome education — the kind of thing that post-secondary universities and colleges particularly have been really good at over the years.”
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The Alberta government’s plan to transform post-secondary education is “ill-advised and even dangerous,” a new think tank report warns.
On Tuesday, the Parkland Institute, a non-partisan research centre housed at the University of Alberta, released a report criticizing Alberta 2030: Building Skills for Jobs, the province’s 10-year plan to focus higher learning on job skills and training.
University of Lethbridge sociology professor Trevor Harrison, who is also a former director of the Parkland Institute, coauthored the report and said that the strategy proposes significant changes and cuts that will have a “radical and negative” effect on the province’s post-secondary education system.
“Alberta 2030 means reducing education to immediate jobs training and not preparing students for the labour market of the future, or for preparation for the kind of economy that we want in this province,” he said.
Part of the problem with the strategy, he added, is that it cites misleading statistics from Alberta’s 2019 MacKinnon report.
According to the MacKinnon report, University of Lethbridge economics professor Richard Mueller said, Alberta spends between $5,000 to $15,000 more per full-time student compared to Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia.
But those findings, he added, which aggregate all post-secondary institutions, including community colleges and vocational schools, are misleading.
“For many reasons, these community colleges and vocational schools were put in small, rural areas, and they’re very expensive to operate,” he said. But once those schools are separated from the results, “the numbers are totally different” from degree-granting institutions, he added.
“The numbers show that Alberta has higher costs in the college system, and not so much in the university system,” Mueller explained.
Rafat Alam, president of the faculty association at MacEwan University in Edmonton, agreed that the data from Alberta 2030 compares ”apples to oranges” in terms of per capita expenditure, and took issue with the plan’s mention of a performance-based funding model for institutions.
“It has been shown by academic literature too many times that performance-based funding does not offer any efficiency gain,” he said. “It is simply not effective.”
Alam was also concerned about the kind of graduates the Alberta 2030 strategy would produce in a post-COVID world needing economic recovery. Citing the Conference Board of Canada, a not-for-profit think thank that analyzes economic trends, Alam said the future of Alberta lies in a knowledge-based economy that depends on education, not training.
“What the university system is providing is education, which is more appropriate for a future diversified knowledge base,” he said.
Harrison added that Alberta’s economy has changed over the past 20 to 30 years, and that the oil and gas industry is not going to be a reliable economic driver in the future, given the unstable price of oil and the adoption of automation in the industry.
While the Alberta 2030 strategy focuses on developing specific skills and training for an economy that is rapidly changing, Harrison said, university and college education can provide the kind of “deep learning” and critical thinking skills that will be important in the future.
“If Alberta wants to get ahead of that curve, and prepare our students for that future economy, we need to have a kind of fulsome education — the kind of thing that post-secondary universities and colleges particularly have been really good at over the years.”
THERE ARE NO UCP MLA CABINET MINISTERS AROUND TO ANSWER QUESTIONS
In a statement to Postmedia, Laurie Chandler, press secretary to Alberta Advanced Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides, said the government engaged representatives from post-secondary institutes across Alberta, to create an affordable and accessible system designed to meet future economic demands.
She also cited findings from the Conference Board of Canada, which reported that economic changes have created a need to focus on lifelong learning where workers regularly update their skills, and that employers are working with post-secondary institutes to develop shorter programs to do so.
“There is also a need to remove unnecessary duplication,” the statement said, “and stronger pathways are needed to improve movement and transfer of students throughout the system, without having to repeat courses.”
She also cited findings from the Conference Board of Canada, which reported that economic changes have created a need to focus on lifelong learning where workers regularly update their skills, and that employers are working with post-secondary institutes to develop shorter programs to do so.
“There is also a need to remove unnecessary duplication,” the statement said, “and stronger pathways are needed to improve movement and transfer of students throughout the system, without having to repeat courses.”
New report calls Alberta job skills strategy ‘ill-advised’
By Erik Bay Global News
Posted October 5, 2021
WATCH ABOVE: A new report from the Parkland Institute looks into the provincial government’s plan for post-secondary education. As Erik Bay explains, the report suggests the plan will do more harm than good.
A new report from the Parkland Institute calls the provincial government’s Alberta 2030: Building Skills for Jobs plan “ill-advised.”
The research organization says the plan will reduce the quality and affordability of post-secondary education in Alberta.
Report co-author Trevor Harrison said the plan’s narrow skills focus and budget cuts are built for an economy from the past, not the future.
READ MORE: NDP wants Alberta government to make changes to post-secondary budget
“The Alberta economy is changing rapidly though automation and other forces, so what we need is a really highly-skilled workforce that is able to adapt to the changes in the labour market,” he said.
“Alberta 2030 doesn’t do that. A more fulsome education… the skills that are going to provide students with really good jobs in the future and build the economy, these are not the kind of narrow skills training that Alberta 2030 seems to rely on.”
In 2020-21 and 2021-22, Lethbridge College saw its operating grant reduced by a total of 13.3 per cent, resulting in 11 budget-related layoffs.
In the past three academic years since 2019, the University of Lethbridge’s operating grant has been reduced by $15.8 million, with another $5.1-million cut expected in 2022-23, totalling more than 21 per cent of the school’s operating budget.
READ MORE: Province announces flexible learning options for Albertans looking to add skills
U of L faculty association president Dan O’Donnell said he fears the cuts will lead to students looking outside the province for their education.
“If students can get a better education elsewhere, they’re not going to come somewhere like Lethbridge. They’re going to go to UBC (the University of British Columbia) or the University of Toronto,” he said.
With the shift to a skills-based economy, where re-skilling and up-skilling are the norm, there is a need to focus on lifelong learning,” Advanced Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said in a statement to Global News.
“We will co-create a post-secondary system that is affordable, accessible and reflective of our economy’s future demands.”
READ MORE: Alberta budget 2021: Alberta universities eyeing tuition hikes, campus changes as funding model evolves
The Parkland Institute report makes four recommendations:
Reinvesting in post-secondary funding
Strengthening the role of faculty, staff and students on general faculties councils in decision-making
free tuition for up to the first two years of full-time undergraduate education
Increased government transparency and accountability
Harrison said free tuition would lower the province’s revenues from post-secondary education by roughly 25 per cent, but that money would be made up for through taxes as it projects the move would see more people gain an education that leads to higher incomes.
“We know that a well-educated population is a high-earning population and is a vehicle for an improved economy,” Harrison said.
The Alberta 2030 strategy was announced by the province earlier this year.
By Erik Bay Global News
Posted October 5, 2021
WATCH ABOVE: A new report from the Parkland Institute looks into the provincial government’s plan for post-secondary education. As Erik Bay explains, the report suggests the plan will do more harm than good.
A new report from the Parkland Institute calls the provincial government’s Alberta 2030: Building Skills for Jobs plan “ill-advised.”
The research organization says the plan will reduce the quality and affordability of post-secondary education in Alberta.
Report co-author Trevor Harrison said the plan’s narrow skills focus and budget cuts are built for an economy from the past, not the future.
READ MORE: NDP wants Alberta government to make changes to post-secondary budget
“The Alberta economy is changing rapidly though automation and other forces, so what we need is a really highly-skilled workforce that is able to adapt to the changes in the labour market,” he said.
“Alberta 2030 doesn’t do that. A more fulsome education… the skills that are going to provide students with really good jobs in the future and build the economy, these are not the kind of narrow skills training that Alberta 2030 seems to rely on.”
In 2020-21 and 2021-22, Lethbridge College saw its operating grant reduced by a total of 13.3 per cent, resulting in 11 budget-related layoffs.
In the past three academic years since 2019, the University of Lethbridge’s operating grant has been reduced by $15.8 million, with another $5.1-million cut expected in 2022-23, totalling more than 21 per cent of the school’s operating budget.
READ MORE: Province announces flexible learning options for Albertans looking to add skills
U of L faculty association president Dan O’Donnell said he fears the cuts will lead to students looking outside the province for their education.
“If students can get a better education elsewhere, they’re not going to come somewhere like Lethbridge. They’re going to go to UBC (the University of British Columbia) or the University of Toronto,” he said.
“I think we really feel it, not just as staff and faculty, but as parents.”
With the shift to a skills-based economy, where re-skilling and up-skilling are the norm, there is a need to focus on lifelong learning,” Advanced Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said in a statement to Global News.
“We will co-create a post-secondary system that is affordable, accessible and reflective of our economy’s future demands.”
READ MORE: Alberta budget 2021: Alberta universities eyeing tuition hikes, campus changes as funding model evolves
The Parkland Institute report makes four recommendations:
Reinvesting in post-secondary funding
Strengthening the role of faculty, staff and students on general faculties councils in decision-making
free tuition for up to the first two years of full-time undergraduate education
Increased government transparency and accountability
Harrison said free tuition would lower the province’s revenues from post-secondary education by roughly 25 per cent, but that money would be made up for through taxes as it projects the move would see more people gain an education that leads to higher incomes.
“We know that a well-educated population is a high-earning population and is a vehicle for an improved economy,” Harrison said.
The Alberta 2030 strategy was announced by the province earlier this year.
University of Lethbridge professors criticize Alberta's post-secondary plan in new report
CRITICIZED BY PROFESSORS
But that plan is now coming being criticized by two university of Lethbridge professors who have come together to create a new Parkland Institute report.
The report written by two Lethbridge professors claims the provincial plan is "ill-advised and the planned changes, if implemented, will have a radical and perhaps even dangerous impact on Alberta’s post-secondary system."
Austin Lee
CTV News Lethbridge Video Journalist
Published Oct. 5, 2021 6:32 p.m. MDT
CALGARY -
The province is looking to shake up the post-secondary system in Alberta over the next 10 years with its 'Alberta 2030: Building Skills For Jobs' plan.
According to Alberta's Minister for Advanced Education, Demetrios Nicolaides, a strategic plan for the sector hadn't been completed in at least 15 years.
"Where are the pain points? Where are the areas that we need to focus on to create a stronger system? In a nut shell, that is what the Alberta 2030 plan is about," he said.
The province's plan aims to:
· Improve access and student experience by "Ensuring all Albertans have access to high quality post-secondary opportunities and that the student experience is coordinated and integrated,"
· Develop skills for jobs by "Ensuring every student has the skills, knowledge and competencies to enjoy fulfilling lives and careers and that they have greater transparency around labour market outcomes,"
· Support innovation and commercialization by "Contributing to Alberta’s innovation capacity by supporting post-secondary research and strengthening its commercialization potential to create new knowledge, develop future skills and diversify the economy,"
· Strengthen internationalization by "Becoming a leading destination for top talent to drive the growth of skills, ideas and innovations locally and globally,"
· Improve sustainability and affordability by "Providing institutions greater flexibility to generate own-source revenue and strengthen student aid,"
· Strengthen system governance by "Modernizing governance of the system to increase collaboration and drive outcomes," HOW ABOUT ELECTED BOARDS OF GOVENORS FROM STUDENTS, FACULTY, STAKEHOLDERS RATHER THAN GOVT. APPT.
Austin Lee
CTV News Lethbridge Video Journalist
Published Oct. 5, 2021 6:32 p.m. MDT
CALGARY -
The province is looking to shake up the post-secondary system in Alberta over the next 10 years with its 'Alberta 2030: Building Skills For Jobs' plan.
According to Alberta's Minister for Advanced Education, Demetrios Nicolaides, a strategic plan for the sector hadn't been completed in at least 15 years.
"Where are the pain points? Where are the areas that we need to focus on to create a stronger system? In a nut shell, that is what the Alberta 2030 plan is about," he said.
The province's plan aims to:
· Improve access and student experience by "Ensuring all Albertans have access to high quality post-secondary opportunities and that the student experience is coordinated and integrated,"
· Develop skills for jobs by "Ensuring every student has the skills, knowledge and competencies to enjoy fulfilling lives and careers and that they have greater transparency around labour market outcomes,"
· Support innovation and commercialization by "Contributing to Alberta’s innovation capacity by supporting post-secondary research and strengthening its commercialization potential to create new knowledge, develop future skills and diversify the economy,"
· Strengthen internationalization by "Becoming a leading destination for top talent to drive the growth of skills, ideas and innovations locally and globally,"
· Improve sustainability and affordability by "Providing institutions greater flexibility to generate own-source revenue and strengthen student aid,"
· Strengthen system governance by "Modernizing governance of the system to increase collaboration and drive outcomes," HOW ABOUT ELECTED BOARDS OF GOVENORS FROM STUDENTS, FACULTY, STAKEHOLDERS RATHER THAN GOVT. APPT.
CRITICIZED BY PROFESSORS
But that plan is now coming being criticized by two university of Lethbridge professors who have come together to create a new Parkland Institute report.
According to Alberta's Minister for Advanced Education, Demetrios Nicolaides, a strategic plan for the sector hadn't been completed in at least 15 years.
Professor of sociology at the University of Lethbridge and former Director of the Parkland Institute, Dr. Trevor Harrison, and economics professor Dr. Richard Mueller, are challenging the province's data that led to budget cuts, layoffs, low student enrolment and an increase of corporate control.
Their report claims the provincial plan is "ill-advised and the planned changes, if implemented, will have a radical and perhaps even dangerous impact on Alberta’s post-secondary system."
Notes from the report include:
· There is no plan to add the projected 40,000 new student spaces the system will require by 2028 nor plans to increase access for Alberta students from the lowest participation rate to the national average.
· Post-secondary institutions will be subjected to increased corporate control over which programs will be offered and what research will be funded.
· The $430 million total project cut to the post-secondary education budget will result in much higher costs for students to attend post-secondary.
· Government cuts to Alberta’s institutions has resulted in massive layoffs for staff and faculty and will have a significant impact on the quality of post-secondary education in the future.
It also calls on the province to increase public funding, rehire staff, and provide free tuition for the first two years of post-secondary education.
"We know that a well-educated population is a higher-earning population is a higher-earning population and is a vehicle for an improved economy," said Dr. Harrison.
"Albertans need to challenge the government to invest in our post-secondary education system so that we can support more students to get a high-quality education and help diversify and strengthen the economy."
Harrison claims the $430-million cut in the last provincial budget will mean even higher tuition rates for students, something the University of Lethbridge Students Union (ULSU) is worried will push students away from the province.
"The average debt load of students is increasing and you know, they're being hit on all fronts in terms of the cost of education," said ULSU V.P. External Ryan Lindblad.
"Not only is that bad for students who are currently enrolled in post-secondary education, but it's a terrifying prospect for those who are in high school and middle school and want to pursue that in the future."
However, Nicolaides said the province's Alberta 2030 plan wasn't created in a vacuum and included a long consultation period with numerous stakeholders.
"We developed it with incredible consultation. Over 150 one-on-one interviews, round tables, surveys, town halls, and we developed it in true collaboration and consultation,"
"There are students associations endorsing the plan, university presidents endorsing the plan and other critical stakeholders."
Nicolaides added the Parkland Institute chose not to participate in those consultations, and is only now weighing in with its criticism.
Professor of sociology at the University of Lethbridge and former Director of the Parkland Institute, Dr. Trevor Harrison, and economics professor Dr. Richard Mueller, are challenging the province's data that led to budget cuts, layoffs, low student enrolment and an increase of corporate control.
Their report claims the provincial plan is "ill-advised and the planned changes, if implemented, will have a radical and perhaps even dangerous impact on Alberta’s post-secondary system."
Notes from the report include:
· There is no plan to add the projected 40,000 new student spaces the system will require by 2028 nor plans to increase access for Alberta students from the lowest participation rate to the national average.
· Post-secondary institutions will be subjected to increased corporate control over which programs will be offered and what research will be funded.
· The $430 million total project cut to the post-secondary education budget will result in much higher costs for students to attend post-secondary.
· Government cuts to Alberta’s institutions has resulted in massive layoffs for staff and faculty and will have a significant impact on the quality of post-secondary education in the future.
It also calls on the province to increase public funding, rehire staff, and provide free tuition for the first two years of post-secondary education.
"We know that a well-educated population is a higher-earning population is a higher-earning population and is a vehicle for an improved economy," said Dr. Harrison.
"Albertans need to challenge the government to invest in our post-secondary education system so that we can support more students to get a high-quality education and help diversify and strengthen the economy."
Harrison claims the $430-million cut in the last provincial budget will mean even higher tuition rates for students, something the University of Lethbridge Students Union (ULSU) is worried will push students away from the province.
"The average debt load of students is increasing and you know, they're being hit on all fronts in terms of the cost of education," said ULSU V.P. External Ryan Lindblad.
"Not only is that bad for students who are currently enrolled in post-secondary education, but it's a terrifying prospect for those who are in high school and middle school and want to pursue that in the future."
However, Nicolaides said the province's Alberta 2030 plan wasn't created in a vacuum and included a long consultation period with numerous stakeholders.
"We developed it with incredible consultation. Over 150 one-on-one interviews, round tables, surveys, town halls, and we developed it in true collaboration and consultation,"
"There are students associations endorsing the plan, university presidents endorsing the plan and other critical stakeholders."
Nicolaides added the Parkland Institute chose not to participate in those consultations, and is only now weighing in with its criticism.
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