Province investing $5.3 million in local post-secondaries
By Lethbridge Herald on May 17, 2022.
Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
Minister of Advanced Education Demetrios Nicolaides speaks to the media about the Alberta at Work initiative Tuesday at the Simulation Health Centre of the University of Lethbridge.Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
Lethbridge Herald
apulido@lethbridgeherald.com
The government of Alberta is investing $5.3 million to create more than 180 new seats in high-demand programs at Lethbridge College, Medicine Hat College and the University of Lethbridge.
“It’s a real pleasure to be here today to announce an important step forward in building our post-secondary capacity,” said Minister of Advance Education Demetrios Nicolaides during the announcement at the University of Lethbridge on Tuesday.
He said Lethbridge College will receive $1.2 million to create approximately 36 new seats in two areas, primarily in agriculture and the heavy equipment technician program, and in the collaborative bachelor of nursing degree with the University of Lethbridge.
“Ensuring that education is accessible is a key priority of ours, part of that accessibility is ensuring that there are available seats in high-demand programs,” said Samantha Lenci, provost and Vice President Academic at Lethbridge College.
She said they are excited to expand their nursing program as there is a long waiting list for students to get in.
Nicolaides said Medicine Hat College will receive $324,000 to create 30 new seats in their health care aide certificate program and the University of Lethbridge will receive $3.7 million to create 118 new seats in four critical programs, with 16 seats being created in the Bachelor of Nursing collaborative program with Lethbridge College, 30 new seats in the Master of Science in Management with a focus on business analytics, 25 new seats in the Bachelor of Management with a focus on business administration, and 47 new seats in the Bachelor of Science in computer science.
“Today’s announcement is so important for our university and that increases spaces in very important areas that contribute to employment and into the economy… I will say they are in areas that we really are excited to continue to grow and there are areas that really do impact the opportunities as we look forward,” said Mike Mahon, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Lethbridge.
Nicolaides said that significant investments into science, agriculture, nursing and business related programs will ensure Alberta continues to be a great place to live, work and do business.
“As you can see this investment of more than $5.3 million is key to ensuring Albertans in southern Alberta have access to the skills, training and knowledge they need to succeed,” said Nicolaides.
But not everyone agrees with the announcement. NDP Critic for Advanced Education David Eggen said in a statement that the UCP is scrambling due to the problems their post-secondary budget cuts have caused and Albertans cannot trust what this government will do or say from one day to the next.
“Investment in post-secondary is critical to the future of Alberta, and yet they have gutted options for Albertans to access advanced education and career training to the tune of $690 million,” reads the statement.
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14-13
This government thinks we are idiots. They remove $20M from the University of Lethbridge operations, causing a loss of many good jobs, a loss of 15% of its teaching staff, and then put $3.7 back in, asking the university to do much more. Nice photo op, great government.
Where is the much needed investment in the Humanities?
https://online.utpb.edu/about-us/articles/humanities/what-skills-can-you-gain-by-studying-humanities/