UNBC commited toregions By CRIS LEYKAUF CUTBACKS TO post- secondary education won't have an effect to the Univer- sity of British Columbia's commitment to its regional campuses, That’s what UNBC presi- dent Charles Jago claimed’ in a recent interview, The universily is facing a potential’ cight per cent reduction to its base budget. “Bul we're not stepping back from our commitment ' to a regional university,” said Jago. ‘'We have to find oul how we can do the same or more for less money,”’ Part of that more-for-less plan must be a defined set of goals) for cach of the’ regional campuses, A recent task force report on the fegions recommended thal each region specialize in a certain area, for example first nations studies at the Nisga'a House of Wisdom, and maritime courses in Prince Rupert. So far no direction has been laid out Cor Terrace. Currently UNBC only of fers seven courses in Ter- race — a mix of geography, history, health and human science and a few others. But a draft plan for Ter- race should be ready by May or June, said Dennis ‘Macknak, = director =o Tegional operations for UNEC, “Terrace is a service Dr. Charles Jago centre and a hub,’’ said Macknak. That indicates Terrace might see either an "ak. applied arts program being “We want to concentrate developed here or a program UF resources to offer quali- in business and natural t¥Y programs with depth,”’ said Macknak, resources, predicted Mack- The university is also looking at ways to ladder more college courses into its own programs. For exam- ple, siudents at Northwest Community College can now take a two-year busj- ness administration program which ladders directly into a commerce degree at UNBC, More links between college and university programs are expected in the future, One set of links which must still be improved is be- tween the regional campuses and the main campus in Prince George, A recent report from a task force studying the regions found that students at regional campuses don’t feel well served by the sup- port functions of the univer- sity, Students in Terrace and other regions had difficulty registering, accessing li- brary resources and academ- ic and counselling services. Jago says that students can EXpecl to see improvements in those arcas in the future, through increasing use of technology. For example he says the university plans to use the World Wide Web for course registration and for the dis- semination, There are currently seven web sites at UNBC. Stu. dents can use the web site to access student services for help on writing a research paper. The university plans to continue improving — tech- nological links between its catiipuses, despite budget cutbacks. “Money is available for technology,” said Jago, Enrollment up House of Wis- and university courses. Bee College looking MONEY’S TIGHT right now at Northwest Community College, and the purse strings will likely be pulled even tighter in the fu- ture. What that means for stu- dents is still unclear for now. College board members met recently to talk about finding new sources of moncy, “‘We’re anticipating a difficult year next year,”’ says Northwest Community College president Michae] Hill, The province is facing huge cuts in federal transfer pay- ments, and Hill expects this will mean cuts in the amount of money the province gives the college. No word has come down yet about any culs but Hill says “‘we have to be thinking about Michael Hill this and planning.” Currently the college board is looking at whether it might have to raise student fees and tuition. THESE STUDENTS in an office technology course at Northwest Cammunity Col- lege have the option ta go onto further business administration courses at the college, From there students can then enter the commerce degree program at UNBC. in the future students will see even great er ‘laddering’ between college MORE NORTHERNERS than ever before are now going to university. And it looks like the University of Northern BC is responsible for the increased interest in higher edu-. cation. Prior lo the opening of UNBC in 1994, first-time univer- sity enrollments from northern BC hovered around 250. There are now 612 first-time northern BC students en- rolled at university. While UNBC is not the only destination for northern BC students, it bas emerged as the university of choice. For northern BC as a whole, 60 per cent of students going to university for the first time are choosing UNBC, Prior to the opening of UNBC, about 50 per cent went to UBC; now less than 20 per cent go to UBC. The number of northern students enrolling at SFU and UVic is declining likewise, “As expected there was a big jump in university enroll- ment when UNBC opened for full operations last year,’? said UNBC President Charles Jago, “We're finding that the trend is continuing and strength- ening. We are attracting more students to the university, and it’s heartening for everyone at UNBC to see that so many northerners recognize UNBC as ‘their’ university.” Students from Prince George high schools lead the way in that sentiment, with 218 enroliing in UNBC directly from high school. But in Terrace that {ecling isn’t so high. Only seven stu- dents from Terrace high schools enrolled direcily in _UNBC. Jago expects that number will keep climbing though. In total about 30 peaple are studying at UNBC in Ter- race, while another 50-60 students from Terrace are study- ing al the main campus in Prince George. Enrollment is also up dramatically across the whole uni- versity. Over 2,300 students registered for courses with the university Uhis fall, up from 1408 last year. Of that number, just over 230 students take courses at regional locations. Many of the students at UNBC regional campuses claim naive ancestry — 57 per cent. This number is up substan- tially from last year’s figures of 28 per cent. The most popular programs in terms of student head- count were business/commerce (342), natural resources management (274), and psychology (168). There was a tie for fourth place between environmental studies and first nalions studies (145). for new The board plans to meet April 19-20 to discuss tuition. Any possible changes in tuition fees will be posted three weeks be- fore that meeting. Board members are also start- ing to look a varicty of new ways to get money, including trust funds, advertising, and cor- porate sponsorship. ““We’re looking at all the op- tions. Both the revenue side and al expenditures,’’ says Hill. Changing economic times means the college must also be- come more relevant. Both the public and government are start- ing to ask more of colleges, such as courses which lead directly into a jab. What that means is NWCC and colleges across the province money will be probably be offering more training courses in con- junction with employment and training centres. So the NWCC will be going after skills and training money much more aggressively, predicts Hill. NWCC is also planning meet- ings with other northern col- leges, to try and see how the colleges can better serve the entire northern half of the pro- vince, “‘As northerners, we know what’s best for the north,’’ says Hill. The college is taking action now, he says, because the board Members don’t want to see some sort of fiscal restraint package forced upon them. Nisga’a House of Wisdom a success NATIVE STUDENTS lead the way in en- rollment increases at the University of B.C. regional campuses. And Wilp Wilxo- oskwhi Nisga’a — the Nisga’a House of Wisdom — is responsible for much of that increase. Currently 222 students {ull and part-time students (or 88 full-time equiv- alents) are reg- istered in courses with the dom. Nearly all of those — stu- denis are native and many are enrolled in | courses facus- Ing on Nisga’a language, cul- ture and issues. Deanna Nyce - The ‘majority are taking courses in the dents male. Nass Valley, specifically in New Aiyansh, Kincolith and Greenville. However, 20 stu- in Vancouver through the House of Leaming. Most stu- dents are part-time and 68 per cent are fe- The House of Wisdom has become the flag ship example for UNBC of what a regional campus can become. “*No other university in the country offers the potential for degree completion in a na- tive community,’ says UNBC media of- ficer Rob van Adrichem. He says the university has even received Tequests from students in other countries in- terested in the Nisga’a courses. So far one student from Paris and another from Tokyo have come to study in the Nass Valley. WWN, or the House of Wisdom, is unique in that its course offerings are entirely dictated by Its students. As well as operating as a branch of are also enrolled UNBC, WWN also offers courses from Northwest Community College, the Open Learning Agency, as well as technical and trades courses on demand. “The impact on the community has been phenomenal,”’ says Deanna Nyce, chief ex- sity. “Is had a people’s self-esteem,’’ says Nyce. ‘It’s really exciting for me to see how people’s lives are changing.”’ Access to higher learning gives people the tools to start asking questions about life- style choices, she says. And in turn that often leads to a higher quality of life, for both them and their community, eculive officer of WWN., “‘Peaple who could never afford to leave (the Nass Vallcy) now have access to quali- ty education.’* Many students enrolled in WWN are the first people in their families to go to univer- tremendous impact on Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 14, 1996 - AS cmpmpumuiyiniammmntrie et | CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The Mail Bag Medical centre defended Dear Sir: I wish to take issue with Skeena MLA Helmut Gies- brecht who in a Feb. 7 letter to the editor slated ‘People should take a walk down Park Avenue and Jook at the multi-million dollar medical building. Does anyone really believe that specialists are planning to leave?’ Mr. Giesbrecht is correct in saying that specialists have bought into the new building in town, but these are pre- dominantly core medical specialists, i.e. those specialists required for medical emergencies. The rest of the tenants are family physicians pleased to offer patients more salubrious facilities. I shall not point out to Mr, Giesbrecht that Medical Services will not com- pensale these physicians for this capital outlay by in- creased income, and nor were they expecting any. But this is no different to any of the other towns in the northwest. What makes Terrace the medical envy of all the other towns in the north is that it has been able to attract non-core specialists, allowing the people of the area to have access to hospital based specialist services such as ophthalmology, urology, and otolaryngology. To date, only one of these specialists has actually bought into the new building; the rest are sitting on the fence. When you know that your MLA sees no problem with the local hospital downsizing to less than one hospital bed per physician in town, wouldn't you? We should feel reassured that Mr. Giesbrecht has not been seduced by the expense accounts and fine life style that the province affords its politicians in Victoria, He obviously subscribes to the pioneering tradition of the north where all a town really needed was an old horse- doctor to patch you up should you have ended up in the Skeena. Alast Mr. Giesbrecht, your denizens have moved on. Most would prefer to have their cataracis or their prostate sorted out locally rather than having to travel down south to an impersonal and intimidatingly large hospital. They refuse to accept the idea that convenient access to such mundane first world medical services should be the exclusive prerogative of those living in the Jower main- land. After all, we all pay the same taxes. Undoubtedly if the doctors of this town had known what the government actually meant by its ‘closer to home’? policy, this “‘multi-million dollar medical building”? would never have been built. Martin Vanlierde, MD, Chief, Division of Surgery, Mills Memorial Hospital Won't tolerate cuts Dear Sir: As city council’s representative on the various health boards in the community, ] am concerned people may have the impression council supports an indefensible position tegarding the planned bed cuts at Mills Memorial Hospital, I refer to the statistics showing MMH’s patient days per capita are well above the provincial average. This now seems to be the main argument for cutting beds, with the consequent reduction of health services to the community. It is true that our hospital’s patient days for the com- munity it serves are significantly above the average for the province. However, they are not out of line with the fig- ures for other hospitals operating in similar geographic and demographic situations. There are very good reasons why patient days should be higher in the north than in more urban areas. We have much higher rates for certain conditions that require hospi- talization, such as alcohol related disease, teen pregnancy, STD, and family violence, We should be doing something about reducing them, but so long as we have them the hos- pital has to attend to the consequences. Another important contributor to higher patient days in northern hospitals is the inabilily to discharge patients as soon as they would be released in more urban situations. Someone being released form a Vancouver hospital is only minutes away from rehospitalization if necessary. Medical staff at MMH and other northern hospitals are reluctant to release patients who will be going home to New Aiyansh or Dease Lake, for example, where they will be many hours away from proper help if complications occur. The cost of health services in this country has become a very serious concern for governments at all levels, and governments are to be commended for trying to reduce these costs. However, we in the north do not have to accept reduction or elimination of basic services that can be pro- vided at reasonable cost. The statistics that are being used against us to squeeze our hospital's budget are totally invalid when examined in detail and will certainly Icad to a two-tier system of health care where the south gets the best and we get the rest. in conclusion, I might note that MMH has already taken significant sleps to reduce cosis. Over the past several years there have been major reductions in staff and beds. Also, it should be noted that the hospital has been operat- ing on essentially the same budget for the past four years, since the small increases that have been granted have not even covered inflation and in case have been granted to fund additional services, such as the CT scanning. We are now squeezed to the level where any further reductions will seriously affect the services we can legiti- mately demand, and all of us in the community should let the Ministry of Health know that we will not tolerate a Jes- ser level of health care than we presently enjoy. Val George, Councillor, City of Terrace Appalled at sentence Dear Sir: I was appalled at the recent sentence given Ric White. If I were to go out and shoot a moose at this time of year io feed my family [ would have received a much stiffer penalty. Yet what he did to a fellow being only brought him two years in jail? Where do we place our values? Len Froese, Terrace, B.C. More letters Page A7 About the Mailbag The Terrace Standard welcomes letters to the editor. Our deadline is noon Friday. Our mailing address is 3210 Clinton St, Terrace, B.C, V8G 5R2 and our fax number ts 638-8432. Last year we had the pleasure of publishing more than 250 letters, a clear sign that readers take an in-' terest in a wide variety of issues.