The Red Deer College Students’ Association is urging the provincial government to approve and grant degrees at the post-secondary institution for the Fall semester.
There will be a collective day of action to drum up support this upcoming Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the main campus.
“The people of central Alberta have been waiting to have a public degree granting institution for more than 30 years. We have waited long enough,” said Brittany Lausen, association president.
“This is not just a Red Deer College issue; this is a central Alberta issue. Students are being displaced and having to move out of the region to complete the schooling and students want to stay here.”
Lausen said Alberta’s minister of advanced education, Demetrios Nicolaides, has indicated to her on multiple occasions, that there is a process degrees go through before they are recommended for approval.
“However, he has also told me that it ultimately lands on his desk to grant Red Deer College degrees. Minister Nicolaides can grant degrees at RDC without renaming the institution,” said Lausen.
“We do not need to be a university or a polytechnic to have degrees. If the minister needs a pen, the students of Red Deer College easily can get him a pen. How long will government make us wait?”
Lausen said the government needs to be transparent about why RDC doesn’t have degrees yet.
“Red Deer has waited for a new hospital as well and we haven’t gotten that either. It’s time that government starts paying attention and caring about the people in central Alberta,” she said.
RDC has five degrees submitted for government approval: Bachelor of Education (BEd), Bachelor of Science Psychology (BSc Psych), Bachelor of Arts Psychology (BA Psych), Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Bachelor of Science Biology (BSc Biology).
“If government does not grant our BSc Psych or BA Psych we will have 167 psychology students displaced with nowhere to go. The collaborative degrees that we had with the University of Calgary were cancelled in 2019,” said Lausen.
More information, visit the Facebook group RDC Needs Degrees.
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter