Northern Sask. students worried about plans to close NORTEP, move programming

Students at a northern Saskatchewan's post-secondary institution are concerned about big changes coming to the program.

In August, the province announced it would be discontinuing funding to NORTEP and NORPAC in July of next year. The two programs offer university classes to northern students, offering courses in education, Indigenous studies and other topics.

At the time, a release from NORTEP said that "transformational change" would "minimize perceived duplication and result in administrative change."

However, students are concerned that any changes will result in lesser quality education.

"We really connect well with our teachers," said Rielle Desjarlais, vice-president of the NORTEP/NORPAC students' association.

"It's easy to talk with them. There are smaller classrooms. We're not afraid to go up and ask questions."

Desjarlais is also concerned that more classes will be offered distance learning, with the professor appearing on a screen, and students phoning professors to ask them questions — rather than having a flesh-and-blood teacher in the class.

"It doesn't work well with students," she said. "Teachers, I imagine, would be stressed, because they don't know if the students are getting the information that they need."

Students are also worried that classes will ultimately be merged with nearby Northlands College, a technical college in La Ronge that also offers university programming. Desjarlais worries that more emphasis will be placed on northerners taking trades education, rather than university courses.

"NORTEP has been around for 40 years," she said. "In the last five years, we did a study, and it showed that 94 per cent of the graduates that come out of NORTEP/NORPAC have been able to find jobs in northern Saskatchewan, and it's been able to develop northern Saskatchewan, keeping all of Saskatchewan strong, not just southern Saskatchewan."

No decisions made

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Advanced Education said no decisions have been made yet. Since university programs through NORTEP are offered through the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Regina, there needs to be much more discussion between all of the organizations involved in the school.

The next year will be spent transitioning the school into its new form.

"Any decisions that we make have to be guided by outcomes that ensure that the students there continue to have access to high-quality education," said deputy minister Louise Greenberg. "It is about the students. And some of the things that we're looking at is administrative structures that oversee the delivery of this university programming."

Greenberg said it was also too early to say what the courses look like, and how many courses would be offered by distance education methods.

"Distance technology has actually grown over the years because of technology," she said. "If you want to access a psychiatrist in northern Saskatchewan, they are using videoconferencing to do that, in order to get prompt medical treatment. They're using robotics for some of the education of the RNs in La Ronge. So, I think learning is changing."

The ministry also said it's not trying to restrict university education in the north, or push more northerners towards trades education.

"We have to design post-secondary programs that meet the needs in order for First Nations and Métis students in order to achieve," she said. "I think having the ability to take university programming or technical training in one institution is actually great, because you're meeting different needs that students may have."

NORTEP's funding will be discontinued after July 31, 2017.