TO:

COLLEGE BOARD

 

= 8

On February 26th, I chaired the second meeting on the Ministry
Committee concerned with educational use of computers in colleges
and institutes. The response to the White paper produced by the
committee's predecessor has been vigorous.

The outcomes of the committee's work at provincial policy level
will be constructive for the college and institute system, and for
the students we serve.

Dr. Gerry DellaMattia has recently been named to the steering
committee of a major research project, funded by the federal
government, on the subject of part-time student access to colleges
and institutes across the country. Dr. DellaMattia attended the
first meeting in Ottawa (at federal expense) last week. Douglas
College will be one of 30 colleges and institutes across the country
involved in the research project. It will involve us in a stimulating
area of research, and directly address concerns that were voiced
during our self-study by the visiting evaluation team, and by the
Board itself over this past year.

At the last Management Committee meeting, we were pleased to welcome
Dr. Paul Gallagher, President of Vancouver Community College, for
an informal discussion on current development and trends within
the ACCC, and the relationship of individual colleges to that
organization.

Internal Matters - Education

 

Meetings have been ongoing during the month of January, regarding
the preparation of our second 5-Year Plan. All documentation is
complete, and work has started at the departmental level.

Qn January 21, there was a major meeting of all the parties involved
in the Maple Ridge joint education activities, at Maple Ridge. We
expect that the Community Education Centre will be in full operation
in September, as scheduled.

Rita Chudnovsky, of the Community Programs & Services Division,
has been working on approaches to the Canadian Jobs Strategy by
the College, that are complementary to initiatives in the private
sector, and by school districts. As the Board knows, the College
exists in a complex of overlapping institutions and activities,
and therefore it is important that we do not get into wastefully
competitive activities with other institutions. We expect that
within the next couple of months, we will have been able to identify
our objectives and role regarding the Canadian Jobs Strategy with
reasonable clarity.

As a result of the Board's concerns regarding the radical drop in
the level of enrollment of part-time students, Gerry DellaMattia
and I met with Marian Exmann, Coordinator of the Women's Centre,
in order to discuss aspects of the problem.