Building bridges for better education
When teenagers and parents sit around the dinner table, discussing what type of post- secondary education is right for their family’s future, the conversation invariably turns to choice. Should students pursue practical skills training in order to transition directly into the workforce when they finish their program, or should they choose a path that will help develop the type of deep learning and critical thinking necessary for a professional career?
This discussion can foreshadow a student’s experience; once entering the post- secondary system they often customize their educational programs by moving from one institution to another in search of the right mix of courses and experiences.
For decades, students in British Columbia have transferred from college to university, but the pattern is changing. Recent data indicate that many students create individual paths involving two or more institutions and thousands of students actually move from university to college, creating a program that best suits their needs.
Looming in the background is a recent B. C. labour market profile that highlights an impending skills and talent deficit by 2016, when the number of jobs in the province will actually exceed the number of available people with appropriate college or university education. To satisfy that impending skills gap, B. C.’ s students will need a post- secondary system that broadly differentiates institutions by function. But the new patterns of student mobility across the system show that some students will want to combine education and experience from different kinds of institutions. But how can we help students do this efficiently?
It starts with a simple idea: more collaboration between colleges and universities. That idea, however, will require a change in our mindsets across- the- board: from students and their families, to industry, government and within the post- secondary sector itself.
A trilateral agreement signed by the British Columbia Institute of Technology, Simon Fraser University, and Vancouver Community College is advancing this kind of co- operative, 21st century approach to post- secondary education based on the reality that the roadmap to a fulfilling education and a successful career today is not always a direct line from A to B.
Many students are looking for multiple pathways that involve quality, complementary courses and programs at both the college and university level.
Students want choices and lots of them.
With a common interest in student success and a combined annual enrolment of nearly 100,000 students, BCIT, SFU and VCC are opening doors to share expertise, remove barriers that might exist between one school and the next, and explore new methods of program development, which could result in more laddering opportunities for students or even joint program delivery.
This co- operative approach could connect a new immigrant with the right college or improve their language skills before applying to a technical or research program, or empower a certified tradesperson to pursue a management job by getting a business degree. Whatever the student’s goal, better collaboration between colleges and universities can make it easier to achieve.
Agreements like this will help students find the best options without having to choose one school over another, but rather one school before or with another. We want students to get the best of all worlds: knowledge, understanding, skills, and the opportunity to prosper.
Colleges and universities will continue to have distinctive differences and serve students with different ambitions always, but whenever it makes sense, institutions must work collectively, in partnership, toward a common goal – lifelong educational opportunities to support wellinformed citizens in a thriving and prosperous British Columbia.