Aurora College’s polytechnic transformation ‘hasn’t been halted’

The president of Aurora College says there has been no halt to its process of becoming a polytechnic university, but says the previous 2025 deadline to do so was not “realistic.”

“We’re continuing on the transformation pathway,” Angela James told Cabin Radio after MLAs speculated that the process appeared to be dead in the water.

She said she wanted to “dispel the idea that transformation is halted or stalled.”

The GNWT had originally said the college would be reborn as a polytechnic university by 2025, but finding the money to back up that commitment has proved a challenge.

In the course of laying the groundwork for a polytechnic university, Aurora College has been moved to arm’s length from the GNWT in recent years. A new board and governance system have been established, meaning the territorial government now has significantly less direct control over Aurora College than it once did.

However, the college is ultimately reliant on the GNWT for a significant portion of its funding.

In selling the idea of a transformed polytechnic university to NWT residents, the territorial government has pointed to possibilities like building a new Yellowknife campus on an area of Tin Can Hill.

That would take hundreds of millions of dollars and there is no sign of that funding emerging from any source in the near future.

James said the polytechnic transformation would be seen through but did not have to mean a shiny new campus to be effective.

“I just want to clear the air here,” she said.

“I think a lot of people believe that transformation is a big, fancy North Slave campus in Yellowknife on Tin Can Hill.

“Although that might be a future state of the new polytechnic if someone has an extra $500 million or $600 million in their back pocket … there are many critical pieces.”

‘Launch to be determined’

The choice of Tin Can Hill as a potential future campus location is controversial. Some residents in the area believe it would ruin what is currently undisturbed green space, though advocates have said the campus would have only a small footprint.

That location has yet to be finalized and no money exists to develop it.

James instead said transformation into a polytechnic rests on other goals.

She listed the likes of developing programming such as a made-in-the-North degree and launching a new general studies degree, implementing appropriate quality assurance, and creating a “very strong curriculum and assessment unit.”

James said the GNWT’s current financial situation – the territory has been trying to find an extra $150 million a year, although various crises mean that’s going badly – had “caused a delay, but we are working with the minister and the territorial government toward a sustainable funding model for the polytechnic.”

Even so, James acknowledged that her ability to know when she can formally open a polytechnic university rests on cash.

“So much, of course, will depend on funding,” she said.

“The originally forecast date of 2025 was not realistic, and especially right after the evacuation. What happened in August 2023 with the evacuation – the delay everywhere – also delayed the money, so we have to go back to the drawing board.

“We’re still going full-tilt ahead with the quality assurance, but the other parts are in process and the actual launch is to be determined at this point.”

‘How much more time?’

In the legislature, education minister Caitlin Cleveland has come under sustained questioning about the polytechnic transformation.

Last year, the college said its own transformation team had been disbanded through a lack of funding.

Joe Handley, the former NWT premier and chair of Aurora College’s board of governors, said at the time that he did not believe the college’s transformation into a polytechnic university had ever been properly funded.

Last week, Cleveland told the legislature: “I really want to see this transformation succeed because this transformation is not just about bricks and mortar. This transformation is about ensuring that we have a quality post-secondary institution providing education that leads to jobs that we need homegrown people to be able to take advantage of, that we need to be able to attract to our knowledge economy, to be able to do research.

“I believe in this transformation wholeheartedly, and I want to see it happen. I’m prepared to work within my authority to see that happen but acknowledge that this is a relationship that needs to be fostered, supported, and that needs to be able to given the time to grow.”

She was responding to questions from Range Lake MLA Kieron Testart, who suggested the college needed to be taken back under direct GNWT control.

“They’ve been given years to get this done, and they’re still struggling. So clearly something isn’t working,” Testart said of the polytechnic transformation.

“How much more time is the minister going to give Aurora College to fail?”

“I want to see change right away,” said Cleveland, pointing out that the new board has had about 18 months since it took over from a GNWT-appointed administrator, “but acknowledge that change like this does take time.”

SSHRC visits Yellowknife

James spoke about the transformation as she welcomed Ted Hewitt, president of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, to Yellowknife.

The council, known as SSHRC, has an annual budget of more than $1 billion and is one of three main federal funding bodies for post-secondary research in Canada.

James recently joined SSHRC’s council, which Aurora College says is the first time someone from the Northwest Territories has been chosen for such a role.

“We’re here primarily to meet with our Indigenous leadership circle in research, which SSHRC established a few years ago, a great group of people who give us advice and provide support to us in our programming,” said Hewitt.

“We’ll be listening a lot to learn as much as we can about what we need to be doing to improve our support for Indigenous research in Canada, and what better place to be than here?”

About 10 percent of SSHRC’s current funding expenditure goes toward Indigenous-led projects, Hewitt said.

“We’re very, very glad that they’re up here visiting and and ensuring that the Northwest Territories and the North are represented as they distribute their dollars throughout Canada,” James said.