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Sunday, April 27, 2008

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Cap College to become a university

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Province will
redesignate
four colleges

James Weldon

jweldon@nsnews.com

NORTH Vancouver

will soon be a university
town.
That's the word from the
province in the wake of an
announcement this week that
Capilano College is to be
redesignated a university.
Premier Gordon Campbell
made the announcement to
a packed room of students,
faculty, officials, media and
other onlookers at the college's
sportsplex Friday morning.
Tlte institution wJl be
renamed Capilano University,
he said - a promise greeted
with cheers from the audience.
"Get used to saying that:
'Capilano University,"' said
Campbell over a burst of rock
music and confetti cannons.
"This is something that will
touch the lives of literally
thousands and thousands of
people in the future."
The upgrade is one of
several granted by the province
this week to post-secondary
institutions. The University
College of the Fraser Valley,
Kwantlen University College
NEWS photo Mike Wakefield
in Surrey and Nanaimo's
Malaspina College have all PREMIER Gordon Campbell announces Capilano College's designation as a university at the institution's North Vancouver campus Friday.
been marked for redesignation The upgrade is one of several to be granted by the province to post-secondary colleges this week.
as universities. · A similar
J:irom page 1
announcement for Vancouver's Emily Carr Institute of Art and
Design is expected Monday.
variety of areas including business, tourism, jazz studies and music change, he added.
The move comes at the end of a year-long campaign by therapy, and it had another eight in the works. But Plant's plan, if
Capilano's redesignation comes the same week other
Capilano to have itself redesignated.
adopted, would have seen that come to an end and the college colleges announced downsizings as a result of provincial cuts.
Its efforts began in the wake of the province's April 2007 increased its lobbying for university status.
Vancouver Community College said Thursday it would be
Campus 2020 report, which recommended that colleges be banned
Capilano's upgrade is a necessary adaptation to the realities of cutting programs, eliminating student spaces and laying off as
from offering degrees. The document, submitted by former the modern workplace, said college president Greg Lee.
many as 80 faculty to make up for a $5.8-million shortfall.
attorney general Geoff Plant to British Columbia's advanced
"The world has changed dramatically since that day (when Malaspina College laid off seven faculty members the same day.
education minister, made 52 recommendations to improve the the college opened)," said Lee. "By all measures the world has
But at a media scrum after the Capilano College event,
province's post-secondary education system. Among them was become more complex."
Campbell painted the funding cuts as more of a reallocation of
the suggestion that colleges no longer grant the certificates, in
Post-secondary education has increasingly become a necessary resources, saying the province had actually added $68 million to
order to "restore (their) primary focus."
tool for young people both to get hired and to perform their jobs, post-secondary spending this year.
At the time, Capilano College was already offering degrees in a
"We want to make sure resources are going to things that are
he said. The university label can only improve their chances.
The change should also help attract international students, who in demand," he said.
See Change page 5
currently contribute some $20 million to the college's budget,
added Lee.
Current students were on board with the idea, said fourth-year
student Stephanie Wood, who gave a short speech at the event.
"I'm proud to say I'll be graduating from Capilano University,"
she said. "What was just a dream is now a reality."
When, exactly, the upgrade will take effect is not certain. The
legislature must first amend British Columbia's University Act,
and the college will likely have to make some changes in order to
meet requirements, such as hiring faculty with PhDs to head up
certain programs. "We know there's a lot of work ahead and we
can hardly wait to get going," said Lee.
Students who graduate from Capilano's degree programs after
the redesignation has been implemented will receive university
degrees; those who graduate beforehand will get college degrees
or diplomas. However, if they request an academic transcript in
the future, the institution will be described on it as a university,
said Lee.
The college is expecting no rise in tuition as a result of the