Thank you, Mr. Speaker. May I follow your lead and also wish happy Valentine’s Day to my most lovely wife, Marianne.
Business administration students at Aurora College have appealed for the creation of a third-year degree-granting program. I support that request. The current two-year diploma-granting program is filled to capacity. Currently, diploma graduates seeking a baccalaureate degree must transfer to a southern institution to complete their studies, or take distance education. Students say 87 percent of them – Mr. Moses might take note – have children, and point out that the demands of moving away to continue in a degree, deal with SFA at a distance,
raise their families and work multiple jobs is, “not a task for the faint at heart.”
Our students, obviously, have heart. But they say that a full degree program would encourage more current students to complete degrees and attract more students from NWT secondary schools to business administration programs, all of them ending up with higher credentials.
They’ve collected 36 signatures on a petition asking for the program expansion, which I will take later today. The petition says, “Courses and professional experiences found here are comparable to any other college in Canada,” and that they are very enthusiastic for the opportunity to learn and develop here in the North.
The college president is quoted in the media as saying that some third-year courses offered through Athabasca would be discontinued last year due to some bumps in the road. But she’s also quoted as saying the Athabasca courses could be reinstated as early as next year.
Our society and the economy need these graduates. As a provider of educational services, this government must respond to the students’ enthusiasm for northern education and higher learning. We need to promote their opportunities and make every effort to keep these graduates and their families in the North. We can’t risk losing their energy to southern employers.
This Assembly and our Minister of Education needs to make sure this happens. I will have questions for the Minister of Education about removing any bumps in the road and having this program ready to smoothly accept third-year enrolment in the fall. Mahsi.