BURNABY – Student debt, graduate student funding, accessibility and quality of post-secondary education in British Columbia were the main issues discussed during a provincial election debate held May 6 at Simon Fraser University.
The debate, which took place at the SFU Burnaby campus, saw candidates from the Burnaby Lougheed riding including B.C. Liberal Harry Bloy, B.C. NDP Jaynie Clark and B.C. Green Helen Chang. The forum was organized by the SFU Community Coalition.
The debate featured seven questions by the coalition and ended with a number of questions posed by audience members. Topics included the role of B.C.’s four research intensive universities versus other universities and colleges, the differences in program funding, the accessibility and affordability of post-secondary education, transit issues and graduate student funding.
The candidates were questioned about the differing roles of the four older and more research intensive colleges of B.C. versus “new” universities – colleges that have been converted into universities.
Clark said that these new universities are finding it difficult to survive without funding or a mandate.
“The original universities have leadership roles. New universities are struggling to find their way," the NDP candidate said.
Bloy said the reason for the increasing number of post-secondary institutions in B.C. would allow students to attend classes closer to home and have more students to “stay in the area and benefit” after graduation.
“It takes a lot of money and time to get proper teaching staff and infrastructure,” said Chang.
Chang also said the B.C. Greens would provide green collared jobs and retrain people who could no longer maintain their jobs.
The three candidates were also questioned about cuts to graduate student programs resulting in depletion of general budgets for graduate student programs, lost of graduate teaching positions and the shrinkage of financial and administration support for graduate students.
Clark said the NDP will reinstate graduate student funding, allowing universities to have more input in where funding is directed.
Bloy said that it is already up to universities to make decisions regarding funding.
Chang showed concern for international graduate students who have chosen to study in B.C..
Audience questions focused on B.C.’s primary and secondary school systems as well as the candidate’s stance on the carbon tax.
Ashley Gaboury reports for The Tyee
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realisticman
3 years ago
Shocking!
Imagine the outrage this is creating?
A government opening new universities!
What were these Liberals thinking?!!!
Frank
3 years ago
LOL
They didn't build a single university.
G West
3 years ago
Not only that Frank
Do you have any idea what caucus members actually 'think' of the brillo pad with legs who re-named all these institutions?
Believe me, it's not complimentary. And not surprising for anyone who knows Coell.
Crawford
3 years ago
Missing the point
I was there when Gordon Campbell arrived at Capilano College last year and proclaimed us a university. Confetti flew in all directions, but a few weeks later the new university had to cut over 50 sections to stay within its 2008-2009 budget.
It has since become clear that these are "teaching" universities, doing the bidding of the government rather than embarking on research. Emphasis will continue to fall (as it has since 2001) on cramming as many warm, paying bodies into seats as possible.
So this was an exercise in re-branding, not in advancing post-secondary education. Overseas recruiters know it's easier to attract international students (who pay the full costs of their education) to something called a "university."
Re-branding also makes local students more willing to stay close to home when UBC and SFU are eagerly poaching the students who used to choose the colleges.
Sorry to sound so cynical about a system I happily taught in for 41 years, and I hope the new universities do find a serious new role beyond subsidizing employers' training costs. But it will take money and vision, neither of which is coming from the present government.
deeby
3 years ago
Universities have elected senates...
...which guarantee academic freedom and set curricula based on feedback/input from the faculty. Assuming funding is taken care of, faculty also choose which research they will engage in. There are only 4 in the province: SFU, UBC, UVIC and UNBC.
TRU, Okanagan, Kwantlen, Capilano...are universities in name only, controlled by govt appointed bureaucrats. They are show ponies which represent an incursion by the govt into an area in which it doesn't properly belong, and ought to remain at arms-length from.
It's no surprise that Gordo and his cohorts want more control over the post-secondary system. Gotta churn out more sheep....
VivianLea Doubt
3 years ago
a student
Having completed my first three years of university a couple of decades ago and recently returned to finish my degree, I can only echo your thoughts on "rebranding", Crawford.
For me, the university used to embody the very ethos of public space: the space where one could explore ideas and concepts free from the world of advertising and business influence, political interference and insider mindset...no more. It feels increasingly like a prison where one must express obligatory mainstream views - generally, the views of business - a trend depressingly obvious in the rest of the culture, but which I naively thought would hold less sway in the hallowed halls of academia.
I could go on and on, no doubt, but the main point is the loss of the public role of the universities - now they simply reflect the corporate mindset. A "credential" is the desired outcome, not an education... There is a huge, and probably as yet mostly undefined loss to society in this. How can we ever hope to nuture the vision needed by citizens to tackle the vigorous challenges of the times? This is a terribly important question for "we" to collectively be asking.
And I can hardly refrain from adding, that when we saddle students with such massive debt, we increasingly attract a narrower spectrum of students. Education for the rich or the brave, perhaps, not necessarily the best and brightest.