What is really baffling is why does the Colledge offer univercity transfer courses. I I should think that the colledge should stay with crafts and trades training that are very much in demand at the present time.

Cheers

I disagree Kimbo.

My personal experience was the college offered far better 1st and 2nd year education in the business program because the instructors as a whole had far more practical experience.

The instructors at the university on the other hand have a higher degree of education making them excel in the theory department, but lacking in real world experience.

A 1st and 2nd year student is far better off in a CNC class of 30 students, than a UNBC class of 150 students to the diploma level of education.

I would like to see UNBC cut some of its 1st and 2nd year classes and focus more on the 3rd and 4th year classes of a degree program. Ask any former or current student who has experience in both and they will tell you the same.

Also I would really like to see the elimination of the literature and political science courses. I figure those are just brain washing courses that do more harm than good. They are usually run by hidden zealots that try to redefine normal in their image and your marks will reflect your willingness to accept their new normal. It does great damage to a young mind that is not able to handle accepting what they believed in previously was all wrong, and causes a high level of mental illness in those types of students once their belief system is shattered and they become lost in the ism's. I've seen it from far too many students in those programs.

Maybe these schools should have a price war to attract students. Gas stations used to do that.

Chattermando, did literature and political science destroy your brain, or was it studying business at UNBC? Please explain.

Kimbo, UNBC is a tiny university and cannot offer a wide enough range of courses to meet all of the needs of northern students. CNC's university transfer program covers many areas that UNBC doesn't offer.

Harbinger, great idea! Everyone should compare the tuition fees at UNBC and CNC.

Literature. My experience.

I hated it in high school. In my days in the upper two years of HS, it was simply learning other people's interpretations of passages, of settings, of characters, etc.

They were the commonly accepted versions. What we would call "spin" versions today.

I entered a university program where it was known that each one of us was in the same situation: a first year literature course was a requirement of graduation at that university, as it likely still is, but it was the only one each of us was likely to take.

The university took the position that instead of assigning that course to an assistant prof, they would use a well seasoned and respected prof to lead us. And lead us he did, into an interesting romp through english literature like none of us had ever experienced it.

He set the scene of the contemporary times of the writers, spoke about their upbringing leading to seminar-like discussions (since we were a small group of 25 in a University with a total student population of about 20,000) about what a person with such a background might think, and then reading and finding passages from their writings which, after the fact, almost perfectly matched each writer's background. In as many cases as possible, the authors remained anonymous for as long as possible in the initial part so thst we would not be restricted to pre-conceived ideas picked up from HS.

Essentially the course was about the powers of observation, decision making, exchange of ideas and debate. For me, it was a formative course. Something I never thought a literature course could be for me.

So, what one person thinks is a great course, others think is a lousy course. That is a simple fact of life which will never change.

UNBC is not hamstrung by having to design special courses for students who are intended to graduate at universities other than UNBC.

CNC, on the other hand, has the generic courses, plus they have primarily the second year courses designed to go into a few specialty programs at lower mainland univeristies - Criminology at SFU, Applied Science (engineering) and Forestry at UBC come to mind immediately. I am sure there are a few others.

Since they have articulated many of their courses with UVic, SFU, UBC, and RRU, those students who wish to take programs at those out of town universities will choose CNC. Generally, CNC students who transfer to those universities have done better than students transferring from other colleges in BC. So, they have a good track record.

It is not that UNBC cannot afford to do the same as CNC. They not only do not have to, but they should not, unless CNC bows out of that function. It would be a waste of money.

However, UNBC has a program which can lead to a professional forestry designation and they have an environmental engineering program which is articulated with the engineering program at UBC, so the courses in those two areas of CNC may provide an uneconomical approach in a small market.

I would think that when UNBC looks at where they might be able to save money without compromising choice of students, they should work with CNC in order to improve efficiency and even effectiveness.

I am not holding my breath for that to happen.

I am the first to admitt that I know very little about what UNBC should have for courses that they should carry. However what I have herd that the classes are smaller then at UBC. I am unaware that they had classes that had 150 studnets.

The concern here is why does the colledge have a reduced enrollment since UNBC has opened its doors. I do know this that CNC has dropped most of its preapprenticeship courses and gone to job entry level courses that arnt worth the effort. And those people that do eventually end up with an apprenticeship have to leave PG for their on going training as the apprenticship progresses.

I dont give a shit what they are teaching up at UNBC or would I care to advise them where to go. My concern is dont cut funding to CNC to provide students for our university. We produce great numbers of university graduates when we are short of trades people. What would our engineers do if they didnt have someone on the ground to do the work. And I do have a lot of experience in that area. I worked as a tradesman all my life. I enjoyed it and it was good to me.

Cheers