Higher education in Yukon

Territory of Yukon

Higher education in Yukon is shaped by the territory's small population (30,375 people as of May 2006)[1] in a relatively large geographic area. The history of higher education went hand in hand with the establishment of a representative territorial government in 1979.[2] Yukon School of Visual Arts and Yukon College are the only two higher education institutions in Yukon. Yukon College issues certificate, diploma, and partial and some full degree programs. The college is a community college and as a result it provides in addition to its academic and professional program, Adult Basic Education/literacy programs.[3]

History

Although the Yukon College wasn't formally established until 1988 by the College Act, 1988,[4] its predecessor, the Whitehorse Vocational Training School (later to become the Yukon Vocational and Technical Training Centre)[5], opened in 1963 with a focus on teaching skills that enabled adults to gain employment.[6] In 1977 the territorial government made arrangements with the University of British Columbia to offer a one-time university-level Yukon Teacher Education Program.[7] At its end, however, public demand for more local post-secondary services continued.[8] The birth of Yukon College in 1983 was due to the territorial government’s dissatisfaction with the inadequate programming offered by the only training institute of the region, and the dissatisfaction of its electorate with the occasional extension courses offered through other universities.[9] The research policies and initiatives of the college have also established a foundation of academic training.[10]

In 2007, the Yukon School of Visual Arts was established to provide the foundational year of a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) or a Bachelor of Design (BDes). The school is a partnership between Dawson City Arts Society, Yukon College and the Tr’ondek Hwech’in. Governance comes from all three partners equally and funding comes from the Yukon Territorial Government. Accreditation comes from Yukon College and articulation agreements are in place with ECUAD, ACAD, OCAD, and NSCAD.

Structure and governance

Higher education and the labour market

The Advanced Education Branch of Yukon Department of Education provides services to Yukon residents through two divisions: Labour Market Programs and Services, and Trades Certification and Training Programs.[11] Amongst the many objectives of these programs, some clearly delineate the relationship between the territory's labour market needs and its higher education. For example, one objective is that these programs promote partnerships with business, labour organisations, Yukon College, First Nations, equity groups, federal government and other jurisdictions in the development and implementation of programs.[12] The programs also develop and deliver labour force initiatives through Community Training Funds[13] and Yukon (Immigrant) Nominee Program.[14] Yukon also has some private trade schools that are regulated by Yukon Government.[15][16]

Yukon College governance

"The board of governors of Yukon College is responsible for the government, conduct, and management of the operations of the institution including educational policies and activities that relate to quality assurance, particularly establishing programs of study and student admission standards. The act also establishes campus advisory committees to advise the board of governors on the programs and activities of the community campus, with particular reference to the needs of the community. The board of governors is accountable to the minister of education. The minister tables the board's report with the Legislature."[17]

Funding and financial assistance

The Advanced Education branch of Yukon Department of Education supports adult training, education and labour force development through Community Training Funds ($1.45 million for the fiscal year 2006-07), and Student Financial Assistance options such as Yukon Grant ($3.3 million for the fiscal year 2006-07), and Student Training Allowance ($0.5 million for the fiscal year 2006-07).[18]

Over 50 organisations, individual and professional groups have established scholarships to complement the Financial Assistance programs offered by the territorial government.[19]

Yukon College obtains its base operational and capital funding from Yukon Government. Yukon College also draws funding from two other sources. First, the Northern Research Endowment Fund was established in 1989 by the Government of Yukon to support "scholarly research in the humanities, social, pure, and applied sciences that is directly relevant to Yukon."[20] Yukon Government also provides Community Training Funds. For example for the fiscal year 2006-07, $321,383 was allocated to Yukon College training courses.[21]

The territorial government has acts, policies, and regulations concerning Student Financial Assistance for Yukon citizens pursuing their post-secondary studies in or outside of Yukon.[22] For example, during the 2005-2006 academic year, one of the grants, the Yukon Grant assisted 1,118 post-secondary students in their post-secondary studies.[23] Of those receiving the Yukon Grant, only three out of ten were studying at Yukon College; 44% of the recipients were studying at universities; 4% at university colleges outside of Yukon; and 22% studied outside the territory in programs that may be similar to local alternatives. That is, the educational needs of 68% of the Yukon Grant recipients were served outside of the territory, but financially assisted by the territory.[23] Loan programs include Canada Student Loans, funded by the federal government and administered by the territory. Students may also be eligible for the Canada Millennium Scholarships up to 2010.[24]

Tuition

In the 2012-13 academic year, full-time tuition fees for Canadian or Alaska residents at Yukon College in university-level credit programs were $324 per three-credit course, or about $3,240 per year for full-time. College preparation costs $216/three-credit course. Students in trades/vocational courses paid $1,620 per term with some programs costing $2,160/term, and those in developmental studies programs paid $350 per term.[25] International student pay more. Tuition fees for international students, other than residents of Alaska, were $266 per credit, or about $3,990 per term.[26] There is no tuition for apprentice training or for seniors. Financial assistance is normally available for apprentices to offset loss of income while attending in-school training, travel and book costs, and living-away-from-home costs where applicable through Employment Insurance funds.

Equity, mobility, and access

First Nations

In the 1970s, Native groups such as the Yukon Native Brotherhood and the Yukon Association of Non-Status Indians worked on conceiving a northern institution as a response to a lack of government initiatives, and approached the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College (SIFC), called the First Nations University since 2003, to deliver programs in Yukon. In 1976, SIFC entered into a federation agreement with the University of Regina that provided for an independently administered university-college, the mission of which was to serve the academic, cultural and spiritual needs of First Nations’ students.[27]

From the 1980s, however, Yukon College began to offer courses based on the demands and needs of the first nations communities (e.g., literacy programs, adult high-school programs, vocational training, and Native language instructor training [3] With the advent of the new millennium, the college had set up a department for First Nations initiatives and a First Nations teacher education program.[28] The latter, is offered in partnership with the University of Regina.[29] The college also outlines in its research policies that its research activities must support the social and economic priorities of First Nations and the Territorial Government, support First Nations and private sector research through partnerships and collaborative agreements with First Nations groups and local private sector research.[30]

Statistical data prepared by the Institutional Research and Planning Office at Yukon College reveals that Yukon has the highest proportion of adults with non-university post secondary education in the country, at 36%, of which 34% are of aboriginal background.[31] More than one out of three Aboriginal Yukoners aged 25 and up had not completed high school or its equivalaency in 2001, as compared with one out of five in the general Yukon adult population. There was also a large gap in university attainment rates between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal populations. Overall, 16% of adult Yukoners held a university degree in 2001, but this only applied to 4% of Aboriginal adults.[32] Financial constraints, family responsibilities, and the legacy of residential schooling affecting 87% of all aboriginal families are amongst the major reasons why Aboriginal Yukoners aged 25 to 64 may not complete their education. In the year 2005-2006, 46% of adult Yukon students identified themselves as First Nations people.[33]

People with disabilities

Students with disabilities are also served by Yukon College.[34] In the 2005-06 academic year, 13% of Yukon College students reported a disability, be it physical, learning, or mental/emotional.[35]

International students

At Yukon College, language courses, certificate, diploma, and university transfer programs are provided to international students and the fees are lower than those in most other Canadian colleges.[36]

Transferability of program credits

Although the Yukon Grant as part of the provincial Student Financial Assistance program assists post-secondary college and university studies anywhere in the country, the top ten institutions outside Yukon for students receiving the grant were mostly in the neighboring provinces of BC, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. Yukon students attending these out-of-territory institutions have to observe the credit transfer and articulation agreements within and among the institutes of these provinces.[37]

In a number of articulations with universities in British Columbia, the first two years of university programs can be taken at Yukon College and credited by the BC universities.[38]

Yukon School of Visual Arts, in which Yukon College is a partner, has secured unique articulation agreements with various universities across the country: " "Students who complete the foundation year at the new School of Visual Arts in Dawson City qualify for second year at the southern institutions.".[39] As of 2008, these college and universities include: ECUAD, ACAD, OCAD, and NSCAD.

In addition, in recent times, the college has partnered up with the University of Regina (in the province of Saskatchewan) to offer two four-year bachelor’s programs and with the University of Alaska Southwest, USA, to offer one master’s program in public education in addition to the college’s certificate, diploma and university transfer programs.[40] Yukon College offers a BSc degree in Environmental and Conservation Sciences in a partnership with the University of Alberta.[41] The college has degree-granting authority under the Yukon College Act (2009) but has not yet undertaken development of its own degrees.[42]

As of January 2008, there are 48 trades/occupations in which apprenticeship and certification are available in Yukon.[43] Apprentices obtain a Certificate of Qualification issued by the Department of Education upon completion of all requirements of their apprentice program. Recognition of their completion credentials extends outside Yukon through the Interprovincial Standards Red Seal Program if a Red Seal examination is available in their trade.[44]

Future directions and challenges

Yukon College is a founding member of the University of the Arctic, "a cooperative network of universities, colleges, research institutes and other organizations concerned with education and research in and about the North."[45] To date there is no territorial university in Yukon,[46] but preparations for university transition have been underway since 2012[47] and more formally since somewhat before 2015 with an anticipated launch date of Fall 2020.[48] This is despite the fact that northern residents and southern academics have been suggesting it since the early 1960s,[49] an attempt was made to establish a university in Yukon and the Northwest Territories in the 1970s,[50] the Science Council of Canada urged its establishment as early as the mid 1970s,[51] and Yukoners have proposed the college become a university in some form or other since 2004.[52]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ BC Stats. (2007). "2006 Census Profile:Yukon Territory" Retrieved July 15, 2008
  2. ↑ Senkpiel, Aron. (1997). Postsecondary Education in Yukon. In "Higher Education in Canada" (pp. 285 - 300). Ed. Jones, G.A., New York, N.Y.: Garland Publishing
  3. 1 2 Yukon College. (n.d.). "Our Programs" Retrieved July 15, 2008
  4. ↑ "COLLEGE ACT", O.I.C. 1988/166 Retrieved on July 17, 2008
  5. ↑ Yukon College. (n.d.). "Our History" Retrieved April 16, 2018
  6. ↑ Dennison 1995, p. 90
  7. ↑ Senkpiel, Aron. "An Unlikely Alliance: The Yukon Teacher Education Programme, 1978-82." Unpublished paper. n.d.; Eastmure, Lori Patterson. "Honouring the Past, Touching the Future: Twenty-Two Years of Aboriginal Teacher Education in the Yukon." The Northern Review, No. 34 (Fall 2011): 35-60. Available from http://journals.sfu.ca/nr/index.php/nr/article/view/206"
  8. ↑ Senkpiel, Aron. "Post-Secondary Education in the Yukon – The Last Thirty Years." The Northern Review, No. 12/13 (Summer/Winter 1994): 90–105. Reprinted in The Northern Review, No. 27 (Fall 2007): 6–19. Available at http://journals.sfu.ca/nr/index.php/nr/article/view/136/81
  9. ↑ Graham, Amanda. "The University Project in the Canadian North, 1964 to 2014." Historical Studies in Education / Revue d’histoire de l’éducation. Vol. 27, No. 1 (Spring 2015): 80-98. Available from http://historicalstudiesineducation.ca/index.php/edu_hse-rhe/article/view/4426/4610
  10. ↑ Dennison 1995, p. 91
  11. ↑ Government of Yukon. (n.d.). "Advanced Education" Retrieved July 15, 2008
  12. ↑ Yukon Ministry of Education. (n.d.). "2006-2007 Yukon Department of Education Annual Report". (pp.61-69) Retrieved May 15, 2008
  13. ↑ Government of Yukon. (n.d.) "Community Training Funds" Retrieved July 15, 2008
  14. ↑ Government of Yukon. (n.d.). "Yukon Nominee Program (YNP)" Retrieved July 15, 2008
  15. ↑ Canadian Information Centre for International Credentials. (n.d.) "Directory of Universities, Colleges and Schools in the Provinces and Territories of Canada" Retrieved July 15, 2008
  16. ↑ Government of Yukon. (n.d.). "Registered Trade Schools in Yukon" Retrieved July 15, 2008
  17. ↑ Canadian Information Centre for International Credentials. (n.d.) "Quality Assurance Practices for Postsecondary Institutions in the Yukon" Retrieved July 15, 2008
  18. ↑ Government of Yukon. (n.d.). "Advanced Education" Retrieved July 25, 2008
  19. ↑ Government of Yukon. (n.d.). "Scholarships and Other Options" Retrieved July 25, 2008
  20. ↑ Yukon College. (n.d.). " Northern Research Institute" Retrieved July 15, 2008
  21. ↑ Yukon Ministry of Education. (n.d.). "2006-2007 Yukon Department of Education Annual Report". (pp.66) Retrieved May 15, 2008
  22. ↑ Government of Yukon. (n.d.). "Yukon Grant Policy 2a: Section 6(a) of the Students Financial Assistance Act" Retrieved July 25, 2008
  23. 1 2 Macdonald 2007, p. 23
  24. ↑ Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation. (n.d.). "Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation." Retrieved May 16, 2008
  25. ↑ Yukon College. (n.d.). "Tuition & Fees" Retrieved 5 March 2013
  26. ↑ Yukon College. (n.d.). "International Students Fees" Retrieved 5 March 2013
  27. ↑ First Nations University of Canada. (n.d.). "Home Page" Retrieved July 15, 2008
  28. ↑ Yukon College. (n.d.). "First Nations Initiatives" Retrieved July 15, 2008
  29. ↑ Yukon College. (n.d.). "Yukon Native Teacher Education Program" Retrieved July 15, 2008
  30. ↑ Yukon College. (n.d.). "College Role in Research College Relationships" Retrieved July 15, 2008
  31. ↑ Yukon College. (n.d.) "Institutional Research". Retrieved July 15, 2008
  32. ↑ Macdonald 2007, pp. 3–5
  33. ↑ Macdonald 2007, pp. 19–20
  34. ↑ Yukon College. (n.d.) "Learning Assistance Centre - Home". Retrieved July 25, 2008
  35. ↑ Macdonald 2007, p. 36
  36. ↑ Yukon College. (n.d.). "Yukon College International" Retrieved July 25, 2008
  37. ↑ Canadian Information Centre for International Creditentials. (n.d.). "General information about credit transfers" Retrieved July 25, 2008
  38. ↑ Association of Universities and Colleges in Canada. (n.d.). "Overview of Provincial and Regional Quality Assurance Mechanisms in Canadian Higher Education." Retrieved July 25, 2008
  39. ↑ canadian-universities.net (n.d.). "Yukon Students Can Transfer to Southern Art Institutions." Retrieved June 2, 2008
  40. ↑ Yukon College. (n.d.). "Our Programs". Retrieved May 15, 2008
  41. ↑ Yukon College, n.d., "Environmental and Conservation Sciences" (program description).
  42. ↑ Act to Amend Yukon College Act, SY 2009, c 12, <http://canlii.ca/t/krhr> retrieved on 2013-03-05
  43. ↑ Government of Yukon. (n.d.). "Education Related Legislation". Retrieved July 25, 2008
  44. ↑ Human Resources and Social Development Canada. (n.d.). "Red Seal Program". Retrieved July 25, 2008
  45. ↑ Poelzer, Greg. (2007). "The University of the Arctic: From Vision to Reality." The Northern Review 27 (Fall): 28-37.;About UArctic (n.d.). Retrieved April 18, 2018; Yukon College. (n.d.). "University of the Arctic" Retrieved April 16, 2018
  46. ↑ Graham, Amanda. (2015). "The University Project in the Canadian North, 1964 to 2014." Historical Studies in Education / Revue d’histoire de l’éducation. Vol. 27, No. 1 (Spring): 80-98.
  47. ↑ Dolphin, Myles. (2015, December 9). "Yukon College scouted Scandinavia for university research." Yukon News.
  48. ↑ Yukon University Timeline
  49. ↑ Graham, 2015.
  50. ↑ Graham, Amanda. (1994). "Not a Perfect Solution but a Good Illustration: The Life and Times of the University of Canada North, 1970-1985." The Northern Review 12/13: 117-132; Graham, Amanda. (1994). "The University that Wasn't: The University of Canada North, 1970-1985." MA thesis. Lakehead University, Department of History.
  51. ↑ Science Council of Canada. (1976). "Northward Looking – A Strategy and a Science Policy for Northern Development." Report No. 26. Ottawa: Science Council of Canada.
  52. ↑ Easton, Norm. (2004, February 9). "Norm Easton – Views on a Yukon University." CBC News. [transcript Retrieved April 18, 2018]; Querengesser, Tim. (2006, August 24). "Yukon U revisited." Yukon News.

References

  • Dennison, John (1995), Challenge and Opportunity: Canada's Community Colleges at the Crossroads, Vancouver: UBC Press, ISBN 978-0-7748-0516-2 .
  • Macdonald, Dawn (August 10, 2007), Yukon College: Environmental Scan 2007 (PDF), Yukon College, retrieved 2008-09-27 .
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