Does Canada Need a University of the North?
Last month, the education ministers of the three territories signed an MoU expressing their commitment to explore joint strategies for university development in the North. This is not a new issue – a University of Canada North was first proposed in the 1970s – but it is one that has never been satisfactorily resolved.
There is no doubt that university education is a critical component in the economic, social and political development of a region, and that the territories would benefit from it. Among other things, universities build capacity in the labour force, promoting economic development and good governance. They provide research that reflects the needs of the area in which they operate. And they provide an independent third party that can monitor, criticize and support governments, something that is indispensable in a democracy.
Where university programming has been made available in the North, it has only resulted in good. The large turnover in teachers and nurses in most parts of the North was highly problematic until teacher and nursing programs began to be offered to northerners in the North. Now, in many communities, northerners are teaching and caring for themselves. The 70% retention rate of University of Northern British Columbia graduates in an area in which professionals were once highly transient is an example of the kind of success that is possible.
University in the North – The challenges
The solution may be simple – university education in the North! – but it will not be easy. First off, where to put it? Whitehorse, Yellowknife and Iqaluit are the obvious candidates, but one wonders how a university in Yukon would benefit Nunavummiat, and vice versa. The territorial North is too big and its inhabitants too disperse for a single university to provide much local benefit.
Second, how to staff it? The biggest challenges facing northern economic development are the enormity of public sector spending as a % of GDP; the crippling dependence on the federal government; and the severe skilled labour shortage. A university in the North, in the short-to-medium term, will only exacerbate these problems.
Third, none of this will much matter if grade school education does not improve in the North, because until it does northerners will not be able to succeed at the university-level. Progress will likely be slow and incremental in this chicken and egg scenario as more northerners graduate with degrees, leading to better quality teaching, leading to better prepared students, leading to more northerners graduating with degrees.
Attempts at creative solutions to resolve the lack of university programming in the territories have not been lacking. First off, each of the territories are served by colleges – Yukon College, Aurora College and Nunavut Arctic College – which work tirelessly to provide accessible and relevant post-secondary training that meets the needs of both students and employers. A solid base upon which to build university programming already exists.
Education consortium – Still an option?
Much hope and promise was put into the ability of the University of the Arctic, a consortium of universities, colleges, and research centres around the circumpolar north, to pool students, instructors, programs and services and deliver education to the North using new technologies such as the internet. This was seen as a cost-effective way to provide high-quality programming and build existing capacity. It was, and is, a good idea. Unfortunately, UArctic was not able to fully capitalize on it. Funding for the consortium’s undergraduate studies was never adequate or consistent, and UArctic leadership focused on network building to the detriment of programming. Last month’s MoU likely indicates a territorial decision to try a new approach.
The Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation, one of the key NGOs in Canada in providing space and support for policy development in the Arctic, convened a meeting last November to discuss the potential for a northern university. Following a preliminary assessment of existing university-level opportunities and future needs, the conference participants agreed that a university was necessary and that another conference should be convened. But little substantive progress was achieved.
The Middle Ground Approach
The status quo of northern colleges offering certificates, diplomas and transfer credit to southern universities is no longer acceptable. But a bricks and mortar university may offer more problems than solutions to the educational gaps that need to be filled, if it diverts human and financial resources from other priorities. Is there a middle ground?
Both Yukon and Aurora College have degree-granting status; they just haven’t been able to use it yet. In the short term, it would be good if the colleges could move away from what is essentially a dependent relationship on southern institutions with the current system of block transfers, where college credit can be applied towards a degree at a university. A more progressive solution may be to offer integrated degrees – degrees that are jointly offered, and jointly accredited, by college and university partners. A few models exist in southern Canada – for example the McMaster-Mohawk Bachelor of Technology Program – with many more in the United States and Europe. This kind of partnership could provide, in relatively short order, the kind of university development outlined in the MoU, and the kind of capacity-building needed to move the North forward.
