Paul Ehni, a Vice-President of the Douglas College Student Society, said he
was gratified by the finding that 78% of those with an opinion on the issue
thought that education should have a higher government funding priority than
megaprojects like Northeast Coal or the Site C Dam. "People are obviously
aware that we need a major investment in these colleges to equip our commun-
ity for the kind of world we are going to live in. Shortchanging these two
colleges so that 38% of the college students from the Douglas and Kwantlen

regions have to go to another college is just not acceptable," Ehni said.

According to the survey results released today, a political candidate's

support for education will influence many people's vote. 75% of the respondents
said that they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports
education, while only 22% said this would not influence them at all. 33% said
that a candidate's position on education would influence them a lot. "These
results are especially interesting since less than 25% of those surveyed had

attended either college, and less than 25% had children," said Dean.

 

Dean was puzzled by one result from the survey. “Respondents favoured
specialized or technical training two-to-one over general education, liberal
arts and sciences when they were asked which the colleges should primarily
provide", he said. "But much other research shows that employers want to hire
people with a broad education, people who've learned how to learn. The
specialized training is necessary, but people also need a broad education

to base that training on - especially if we're all going to change jobs
several times in our lives". Dean said that the faculty and students are
planning an information campaign for the Fall to build greater public support

for the colleges.

The survey was carried out by telephone in March.

= 30 =
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