Red Deer College is losing 2,600 university transfer students a year to other institutions in a “brain drain” that college president Joel Ward wants to stop.
“Our future needs to include more degree completion opportunities,” said Ward at the Report to the Community Breakfast at the college on Wednesday.
Only about 400 of the college’s 3,000 university transfer students can complete their degrees at the college. The rest have to leave the college and the community to pursue the third and fourth years of their degrees.
“Once they leave, they don’t come back.”
If the college can add more degree completion programs, he is optimistic that half of those now leaving will choose to stay at the college. Additional students would also be drawn to the institution and the current 3,000 students could become 5,000 very quickly.
Keeping students in Central Alberta will also supply a stream of highly educated, qualified workers that are necessary to keep Central Alberta communities vibrant and growing.
For students, it can also become a dollar and cents issue. Living in another community to pursue an education tacks many thousands of dollars onto student costs, he said.
“When students graduate with 30, 40, 50 thousand dollars of debt, in my view, that’s a shame,” he said in an interview following his speech.
“Because how long is it going to take before they can start a family and buy a house and buy a car when they are paying off student debt for 20 years?”
Ward said the college is continually working with the province and other institutions and partners to look at ways to add more degree completion options in Red Deer.
It is all part of the college’s goal of evolving as Central Alberta grows. That path may one day lead to pursuing university status, or some variation.
The university question comes up often, he acknowledges.
There is pressure in the community to establish a Central Alberta university and retain the students who are now leaving to finish their degrees.
Other post-secondary institutions have evolved into universities over time. In Toronto, Ryerson Polytechnic Institute is now a university.
In Kamloops, Thompson Rivers University started as a college, became a university college, and then full-fledged university. Mount Royal in Calgary went from a college to a university, as did Grant MacEwan in Edmonton.
But Ward said he is concerned less about what name to put on the institution and more interested in developing a comprehensive facility that offers apprenticeships, certificates, diplomas and degrees under one roof.
“And if the evolution of this institution in five and 10 years, 20 years leads to that direction (towards university status). That is certainly something we would have to look at, government would have to look at, and make a decision on what is best for the learners of Central Alberta.”
Meanwhile, the college is continuing to expand. The Donald School of Business in the downtown Millennium Centre will double the number of business students trained over the next few years.
Planning work continues for the Centres for Health Education and Sports and Wellness.
On the college’s south side, work is expected to begin in the spring by Calgary-based developer Qualico West Developments Ltd., on a residential and commercial development. A yet-unnamed big box store has already committed to building in the area and residential homes will follow.
Ward said the whole area, which he called a “community within a community” could be built over the next five years.
The college serves about 7,800 full- and part-time and more than 13,000 continuing education students.
pcowley@www.reddeeradvocate.com