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DOUGLAS COLLEGE LIBRARY

  

 

 

Day's Assessment

~ ARCHIVES as eae
January 31, i983.

Elimination of Academics 'Extremely Unlikely’

Recent planning documents from the Minis-
try of Education have made special refer-
ence to academic offerings at Lower Main-
land colleges. These references have
caused some concern regarding the future
of these programs at Douglas. As this
concern has been expressed in the Other
Press and directly to students in other
forums, I am writing to all employees to
state my assessment of the situation.

At the present time, the Board views two
documents as the primary documents for
which underlie all our instructional ac-
tivities. These are the College and In-
stitutes Act and the College Philosophy
statement.

"The. objects of a college are to provide
comprehensive:

a) courses of study equivalent to A
those given by a university at the
first and second year post-second-

ary level
b) post-secondary education and train-
ing

c) continuing education."

The College Philosophy paragraph E states:

"The College exists to serve its defined
region and its constituent communities.
For that reason, it provides, through
its curriculum and facilities, opportun-
ities for the College to ba a major com-
munity centre for:

i) academic and occupational
ii) athletic

iii) cultural and ~

iv) social activities...'

Since the College does not exist in an iso-
lated environment, several aspects of our

environment are always and necessarily con- |

Section 7 of the Act specifies:

 

sidered in developing and offering courses
and programs. These factors include, but
are not limited to:

i) available funds

ii) programs and courses offered else-
where

iii) provincial and national priorities,
and

iv) ministry and provincial council ob-
jectives.

The relative importance of these factors

varies over time and like the college, is
subject to influences from other sources.
At the present time, the shortage of money

available to fund public services and the

emphasis nationally and provincially on oc-

cupational training have combined to result

in the close examination of previous as-

sumptions regarding accessibility and com-
prehensiveness.

This examination has resulted in several
draft documents from the Ministry which

have now been finalized and which will be
used in preparing our strategic plans. It
has also resulted in the formation of the

Lower Mainland Cooperative Planning group,

consisting of the chief executives of the

lower mainland Colleges and Institutes.
Taken together, these circumstances have
caused some people to conclude that the ac-
ademic transfer program may be eliminated
from the curriculum of the college.

While there is no doubt that Douglas will
need to make some adjustments to its cur-
riculum, until such time as the College and
Institutes Act is changed and until the
Board sees fit to change the College Phii-

osophy, it is extremely unlikely that the

academic program will be eliminated.