“CNC Interim President, Bryn Kulmatycki, says, “These numbers prove that CNC is an excellent place for students to start their undergraduate education in our university studies program, before they transfer to a university to complet their undergraduate degree.””

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I think there should be a larger discussion as to the role of CNC.

The University Transfer courses made allot of sense when UNBC was not established, but now that it is, is there a significant benefit to continue offering these programs at CNC?

I personally think there is a huge opportunity to transform CNC into more of a polytechnic school. We know there is a major demand for jobs requiring specialized technical skillets and I think PG is very well situated to cater to this need. The infrastructure is already there and the city could easily support an influx of students looking to acquire those types of skills.

It’s probably not a popular idea for many folks involved with CNC, but I think such a move would actually strengthen it and make it more relevant and viable heading into the future.

There is an opportunity here to really diversity the post secondary options in PG, help the local economy out, meet student needs more effectively and get people equipped for the jobs we have now and will be needing in the future.

I don’t see a downside to having a polytechnic in the north, operating alongside a university. I think they would compliment each other very well and improve the post secondary offerings within the region. Let’s be smart about how we manage this stuff moving forward.

I thought I read somewhere Canfor or one of those mills was trying to start a trades school down in the BCR industrial site? Can’t remember the details.

Bang on.

CNC has had a one track mindset ever since UNBC was first thought of.

Charles McCaffrey was a promoter of a Polytechnic in PG. He was also a major force in the promotion of UNBC, especially as a university with research capacity.

His ideas were rejected primarily, in my opinion, by CNC UT faculty.

After McCaffrey was shown the door by the Board of the day, there was no one to further the idea of growing the vocational/technical side of CNC in parallel with the creation and development of UNBC.

I have hopes that the one track mindset may be given a much needed jolt with the coming of the new president from Kwantlen, a college/university which has had a strong track record with the technical side of post secondary education, whether that is in health, engineering, business, etc.

If that takes place, I think we could grow the total student population significantly rather than it stagnating as it has over much of the past decade.

“I thought I read somewhere Canfor or one of those mills was trying to start a trades school down in the BCR industrial site? Can’t remember the details.”

You read right. A pie in the sky concept that has been around for decades (first promoted at Baldy Hughes) and was resurrected as a result of the closing of the Rustad mill by the BID group whose main interest in it would likely have been to construct the thing.

An article on 250NEWS almost two years agoblog/view/24121/3%C3%83%C2%BB%20%3E%C3%83%E2%80%94m%3C%C3%83%E2%80%BAN9%C3%83%C2%B7/proponent+hopeful+local+trades+training+centre+will+be+part+of+labour+shortage+solution

I think that if Canfor were serious and CNC had people capable of understanding the needs of a firm such as Canfor (which has been a deal breaker in the past) and the two would work on a serious deal they could both take to the province as well as the feds, such a proposal could create legs.

It is a European concept more than a North American concept. There might be some examples in North America, especially in industries such as automobile manufacturing.

CNC is underfunded by the government now. There are many potential trades classes that could be held at CNC but with no extra funding from the ITA then CNC will never reach its potential. So the Rustad site idea dies a slow death when they can’t fund what they have now.

Canfors needs? They have no problem head hunting trained trades people when they should be training more of their own. Canfor is part of the problem. But I see Canfors point! They don’t want to train trades people by seniority because the candidate might retire once they get their ticket. A young trainee might move to greener pastures and make twice the money in Alberta. 7 on and 7 off and twice the money will and does attract people that are willing to do that.

So is the solution more schools? Nope ! Use the ones we have now!

Well said, NoWay. I agree with your comment. UNBC is also struggling with enrolments from I heard as well.

If industry wants skilled prospective employees then industry ought to continue partnering with colleges and universities or train them on-the-job. I think it’s high time industry invests more in training than it currently does. Instead there has been a trend to expect the taxpayer to fund their training via government programs.
I don’t believe there should be subsidies for industry in any form. What is the current financial contribution from industries to our colleges and universities?

For the first two years of an undergraduate degree CNC is by far the better choice over UNBC both financially and from the quality of education perspective. I don’t think it would serve northern BC well if we were to try and dismantle that part of their programming.

That said CNC has a lot of room for growth in trades training and if the government is serious about trades shortages and training then they should be putting money into expanding those programs.

It takes space to educate and train students. If the number of students were to be increased at CNC in the Polytechnic area while keeping the UT student numbers the same they would have to add more space than necessary. I think UNBC has classroom space available.

Perhaps the instructors and students can have some of their classes up the hill then both would get some exposure to UNBC.

Why waste tens of millions of dollars to build post secondary space when there is probably enough available already. waste of money if there is space.

CNC and UNBC should work closer together, merge into one is the solution for the University transfer program both wins – unbc’s ft enrollment will be up, cnc can focus more on the trades side …..doesn’t take a rocket science to figure this out, its a matter of when is the government going to have enough bells to get these two post secondary institute to work together and stop screwing each other around for power ….enough is enough, get your powers to meet and tell them to check-in with no ego

I think CNC would be scared to lose their international student base. That seems to be their focus the last few years, get as many foreign students as possible to fill the classes. I doubt you would have that demographic in the college if it was mainly trades. I am not saying that is a bad thing, on the contrary, they could all go up to UNBC. I think CNC thinks their enrollment would plummet if they leave out the international angle.

Like gus said, by focusing on the UT stuff, they are tying up their capacity in programs that are already offered at UNBC. It’s a duplication and it’s an inefficient use of resources and funding.

If those were re-focused to the expansion and addition of new technical programs, I think it would be a win win. UNBC’s enrolment would almost certainly improve and CNC could focus on distingisghing itself more from UNBC, thus ensuring that the two institutions can sustain themselves as distinct and relevant options in the post secondary landscape in the north.