By KELLEN TANIGUCHI on May 5, 2021.
ktaniguchi@medicinehatnews.com@@kellentaniguchi
The provincial government introduced Alberta 2030: Building Skills for Job Initiatives on Thursday – a strategy for post-secondary education which includes a focus on students developing skills for jobs and work-integrated learning. However, not everyone sees Alberta 2030 in a positive light.
“We and our coalition partners believe that it’s really setting the stage for the privatization and increased corporate influence on our post-secondary education system from universities, to colleges and polytechnics,” said Brad Lafortune, executive director for Public Interest Alberta.
“Our perspective is that it’s not a bad thing for students to have on the job training or applied training as part of their education, however we do believe that the UCP government, and this minister and premier, have demonstrated that they just fundamentally misunderstand the value of post-secondary education in Alberta.”
Alberta’s colleges put out a release Monday saying it is ready to act on the Alberta 2030 strategy, but Lafortune says some education workers are telling him otherwise.
“We’re not here to speak on behalf of particular institutions, but we are a coalition of several organizations who represent hundreds of thousands of members across the province at different institutions and what we’re hearing from those members, and as a coalition what we have said, is it’s really concerning that we have this report that is coming out at a time when the provincial government has chosen to deeply slash post-secondary funding … we feel that the report is asking post-secondaries across the province to do more with less and that’s a major concern for us,” he said.
Lafortune says they would like to see a reinvestment into post-secondary and for the government to stop cuts immediately. He adds the government should engage with students, support staff, teaching faculty and anyone else on campus in developing and strengthening the education system.
Lafortune fears the focus on developing on the job skills could take away from other experiences students currently gain at post-secondary institutions.
“I don’t think the purpose of post-secondary education is just to create workers and to fill specific niche job markets,” said Lafortune. “It’s also to develop good people and people who know how to think critically about big problems and come together to solve them and giving students the space to explore the development of those skills is absolutely crucial.”
Alberta’s colleges says the strategy already supports the work being done by the 11 schools.
“Comprehensive Community Colleges have an important role in Alberta 2030,” said Kevin Shufflebotham, Medicine Hat College’s president in a news release. “This strategic plan provides a roadmap for our system and we look forward to working collaboratively with the ministry on its implementation.”