Campus 2020 discussions come to Prince George on Tuesday evening. This is the forum that was cancelled last month because of bad weather.

Prince George is the last city on the tour, and Special Advisor Geoff Plant, who is heading up the forums, says there have been some common themes. “Certainly when students appear they are telling me about concerns about student debt levels and tuition. When those from the Post Secondary education field appear, they have presented material which shows the importance of their institutions to their communities.”

He says he has already heard a great deal about how technology is changing the way people learn, he has also heard about matters which impact rural B.C. “ Many colleges are at 70 to 75% of their capacity”. Plant says the challenge for students is partly because of a decline in the typical age for students, and there has also been a push to have students join the workforce now as the pressure increases to address the trade shortage . “It is difficult not to be influenced by the stresses of the particular moment” says Plant, “But there can be no either-or answer, there are wider broader purposes for education.”

While there hasn’t been widespread public turnout for the forums, Plant says that may be because the public perceives the current post education system as working relatively well.

His report, due in the Spring of 2007, will make recommendations to government that could include everything from spending more dollars on post secondary education, increasing seats for certain types of programs, to giving colleges and universities more flexibility when it comes to designing programs to meet the needs of their community.

While Campus 2020 implies perfect vision, Plant says he knows no one can accurately predict what will happen tomorrow, let alone 14 years from now, “But that is not an excuse for avoiding to plan” says Plant.

Campus 2020 visits Williams Lake this evening from 6-8:30 at the Overlander Hotel Convention Centre, and will hold a forum on Tuesday evening from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. at the PG Civic Centre, in room 204.