VICTORIA B次元官网网址� Premier Christy ClarkB次元官网网址檚 push to B次元官网网址渞e-engineerB次元官网网址� the B.C. education system is moving ahead aggressively in B.C.B次元官网网址檚 25 post-secondary institutions.
One of the first tasks for Andrew Wilkinson in his new role as advanced education minister was to outline the shift in operating grants for colleges and universities to in-demand occupations. By 2017, a quarter of the money for post-secondary institutions will be directed to areas where labour force surveys forecast a need.
This was greeted with some alarm when it was . Simon Fraser University president Andrew Petter at first downplayed the coming skills shortage as B次元官网网址渞elatively smallB次元官网网址� and warned against pushing post-secondary institutions into a B次元官网网址渮ero sum battle for dollars.B次元官网网址�
Petter has since come on board, as his approving comments were featured in the ministryB次元官网网址檚 Jan. 26 news release detailing the shift. He and others have been assured that in spite of ClarkB次元官网网址檚 rhetoric, suggesting trades training is in and university is out, the news for SFU and other universities isnB次元官网网址檛 all that bleak.
Wilkinson is completing a province-wide tour of all post-secondary institutions this week, and I reached him at his visit to Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops.
B次元官网网址淭he response to this has generally been pretty good, because the students are putting this pressure on institutions themselves,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淪ome of the institutions are B次元官网网址� shrinking things like teacher education and putting more effort into the science-based, quantitative fields that are often related to these in-demand occupations.B次元官网网址�
The surplus of teacher graduates has been noticeable for some time, but thatB次元官网网址檚 largely a function of oversupply in urban areas. In the Cariboo, for example, teaching jobs are projected to have the highest number of openings by 2022, followed by nursing and retail and wholesale trade managers. Then come heavy duty mechanics and electricians, but also paraprofessional jobs in legal, social, community and educational services.
Province-wide, itB次元官网网址檚 part of a broader demographic shift to fewer children and more retirees. In fact the government started this targeted funding a decade ago with health care, forcing universities to produce more doctors, nurses, lab techs and so forth.
The retiring baby boom is expected to account for more than half of the openings in the next decade, which will expand the skills demand across most fields, beyond the trades training for the anticipated liquefied natural gas industry and other high-demand industrial areas such as truck driving.
Wilkinson notes that of the ministryB次元官网网址檚 $1.9 billion budget, about 60 per cent goes into general post-secondary education, for introductory courses that students take when they are seeking a career path, through undergraduate studies to professions.
B次元官网网址淪o I think the idea that weB次元官网网址檙e going to somehow minimize or diminish funding in that general education, arts and science category is just not true,B次元官网网址� he said.
Key to this shift is measuring the performance of courses offered at colleges, universities and technical schools. Each year, the ministry surveys about 30,000 graduates to find out whether their studies helped them find a related job.
The results are available on a website that breaks them out by institution and general study area. To find it, do a web search for B次元官网网址淏C student outcomesB次元官网网址� and select the B次元官网网址淏次元官网网址� to check the results for courses and schools in your region.
The site provides charts showing the percentage of students who land relevant jobs. Not surprisingly, it tends to be higher for technical programs and lower for fine arts.
It also shows gradsB次元官网网址� average wages, a sobering but useful bit of information for high school students and their parents.
Tom Fletcher is legislature reporter and columnist for Black Press. Twitter:
