Student forums |

Continued from page one

Peter Jones noted that the drop out
rate is a concern, especially for those
students who may have succeeded in
another program or if they had been
better prepared.

“That’s a waste of time and money
for the student,” he noted. The trick for
us is to create an assessment process,
which includes things besides
transcripts, that will encourage students
to assess their own skills better when
they come to the door and help ensure
that they get into the right program.”

“T’?m worried that you’ll try and
lure Grade 12 honour students
... at the expense of mature
students who really need
financial aid,” — Jaclyn Rea

“Elitism” was also a concern for
student Jaclyn Rea: “I’m worried that
you’ ll try and lure Grade 12 honour
students with awards and scholarships at
the expense of mature students who
really need financial aid.”

“Tt shouldn’t be an either/or scenario,”
noted Jones. “The more students become
involved in the planning process, the
more likely we are to get reasonable
policies. You can keep us honest.”

Master’s degrees were on the minds
of a couple of students thinking far
ahead. One wanted to know if a UCFV
BA degree would qualify him for
graduate school, and another wanted to
know if the University College was
planning on offering master’s degrees.

Gaston cautioned the first student to
check carefully with other institutions to
see whether they would accept a UCFV
degree, and added that in the first few
years all Arts and Science degrees will
actually be SFU degrees.

“We’re not trying to replace
traditional universities — we
want to do things they don’t,”

— Peter Jones

“Our niche will be to provide
bachelor’s degrees that qualify students

for a career. We’re not trying to replace
traditional universities — we want to do
things they don’t,” noted Jones. “The
minute we start offering graduate
studies, we become research-oriented,
and that overshadows the commitment to
teaching. I would like this place to
continue to be known for its excellent
teaching.”

One student asked “how are you
going to fit us all in?” if there are more
applicants than seats for third and fourth
year courses.

Jones noted that not all students who
finish two years will want to continue
immediately into third year, and that
some may still transfer to other
universities.

He added that aithough the 1,050
FTEs received are all for university
courses in years one through four,
UCFYV is not simply trying to add third
and fourth year.

““We’re very conscious that the
basic college offerings are
inadequate for the region,”
— Peter Jones

_ “We're very conscious that the basic
college offerings are inadequate for the
region. We need another additional
1,800 FTEs to bring all our other
programs up to the provincial level.
We’ve fallen behind because of our
growing population.”

A potential teacher asked Education
subcommittee chair Erling Close about
the possibility of a university offering an
extension teacher training program like
the one offered by SFU at Northern
Lights College.

“The universities are completely in
control in an outreach program like
that,” noted Close.“ What we want to do
is begin by offering another university’s
program which will gradually become
ours. We want to design a program that
fits our situation.”

The Education subcommittee will file
a report with recommendations by Dec.
|

A few students who are nearing the

Headlines/Nov. 1 9,199]

end of their two years at UCFV and
planning to transfer to SFU wanted to
know whether they would be able to
exceed the current transfer limit of 60
credits if they stay and take third year at
UCFV.

This was a tough question for
committee members since initially
UCFYV students will be taking SFU
courses in third and fourth year.
Members promised to bring up the issue
when talking to SFU representatives,
noting that special arrangements might
be necessary for students caught in the
transition phase.

Counsellor April Kamann
recommended that students continue to
plan courses as if they were transferring
after two years, and then reassess when
detailed information about UCFV
programs become available in February.

Chilliwack students were eager to
hear what benefits the University
College will bring to their campus.

“This will be a multi-campus
university college,” Jones promised.
“Career/Technical programs generally
have a home campus and Nursing will
be located in Chilliwack. There will be
an expansion of second year courses in
both arts and science, and on the arts
side, we’ll do our best to offer as many
third and fourth year courses as we can,
depending on demand. Science facilities
are very expensive to build and we will
likely concentrate the third and fourth
year science courses in Abbotsford.”

Student Society representative
Colleen Rush asked Jones what the top
three priorities were for the University
College.

“Offhand, we want to maintain and
enhance our focus on teaching and
learning, to not have a negative impact
on the other things we do, and to

- improve our facilities,” Jones said.