How about factories to ease college crunch?
An interesting thing happened this week in Ontario - an opposition critic brought a potential problem to the government's attention and the Premier didn't dismiss the critic's suggestion to alleviate it.
Ontario's post-secondary education critic Jim Wilson warned this week that an unprecedented increase in adults applying to Ontario's community colleges will cause an enrolment crisis if the government does not act immediately to meet the demand. He suggested a novel approach: how about using closed factories and vacant storefronts?
The application deadline for September programs at the province's colleges passed on Monday and, while numbers are not yet available, it is expected that applications will increase by almost 15 per cent, with a significant portion of this increase caused by a large jump in non-high-school students applying to upgrade or earn credentials to re-enter the work force.
Premier Dalton McGuinty didn't dismiss the idea of using empty factories and storefronts, instead stating he would talk to his post-secondary education ministry about the idea. "It's an interesting idea and I think it would be irresponsible of me to reject it out of hand," Mr. McGuinty told The Canadian Press.
The Premier said he would address the space crunch in the March provincial budget.
Mr. Wilson's rhetoric was overly political and accusatory towards the government, but he deserves credit for bringing attention to the space crunch and fulfilling the role of an opposition critic, which is to identify problems and suggest solutions. Colleges are the neglected little sibling of post-secondary education and there is rarely much political capital in devoting attention to them.
The Premier was wise to consider the suggestions and not to engage in a partisan counterattack by dragging out the ghost of Mike Harris - the typical response of his government to criticism from the Progressive Conservative opposition.
In the end, students are the winners this week, if the March budget ensures funding is provided to ensure spaces for qualified students at Ontario's colleges.
Tagged with
ontario,
college,
space,
enrolment,
factory,
crisis
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JOEY COLEMAN
Comments
This is a harebrained idea. Anyone who has ever worked in an industrial environment knows the challenges from a safety, maintenance, cost, and management perspective of turning a old machine or metal fabrication shop for example into a training school. This Jim Wilson character (and Dalton McGuinty for that matter) are both university educated professional politicians who’s entire experience with skilled trades people was probably the last time that they hired a plumber to repair their toilet; neither one of them would be able to tell the difference between a MIG welder and a milling machine.
In the real world when faced by a capacity problem like this we would first look towards finding the resources to maximize the existing facilities/equipment utilization by operating the schools on shifts and working weekends. Most college buildings are only fully used for about 20% of the week.
What really is lacking then is the human resources to make this happen. Do these people really think that there are lots of skilled journey-people around who are willing to work the graveyard shift on a short-term contract for the peanuts that the public (and the college management and politicians) thinks that they deserve for pay? Think again. Good tradesmen are still working for the most part, and making a good full-time living doing it.
Now I suppose that if we were to set-up these empty classrooms with chairs and teach Fine Arts or Political Science to the unemployed there would be no shortage of ‘qualified’ lecturers…but don’t we have a problem with too many graduates from our degree-mills (oops I meant to say Universities) in these areas working at Tim Horton’s now?
One problem with skills training is getting skilled trades people into the colleges to teach. And a real problem here is the approach to pay scales by the colleges of Ontario.
The problem is, that skilled trades certification is not recognized in the payscales offered by colleges, as opposed to academic credentials. I teach in a an electrical skills program at a community college, and do quite paywise because I've got lots of academic credentials. But, we have a very hard time enticing master electricians or the like into our program because their trade level has no bearing on their pay. In other words, someone with a university degree gets hired at a nice, high pay grade, but the electrician, of whom we are in dire need, starts at the bottom of the pay scale. What master electrician worth anything would take a large pay cut to come and teach at a community college.
I attribute this to the fact that the Ministry and college administrations are made up of university graduates, often with advanced degrees. And, in the universe of these folks, the only thing that rises in their consciousness is academic credentials. Meanwhile, skills training suffers.
So, utilize all the facilities you want. But, if you want people teaching with relevant skills, you have to recognize those skills in the level of pay.
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