Erin McKay
Langley Advance News Staff
Friday, August 1, 1997
Pages 1 & 2
A new technical university planned for Cloverdale doesn't make the grade, say some post-secondary educators.
The proposed Technical University of B.C. will not actually be a university, said the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of B.C., and the College Institute Educators Association feels funding for the new school could have been better spent elsewhere.
To Fort Langley/Aldergrove MLA Rich Coleman, the Associations' objections sound like sour grapes.
"It's a bit of an odd contrast for educators to criticize the chance for more education," Coleman said Tuesday. "It's a bit of an oxymoron."
The CUFABC launched a boycott of the new Technical University of B.C. following the provincial government's adoption of Bill 30, the legislation establishing the institution, on Monday.
According to the CUFABC, the TUBC is not really a university, as decisions will be made solely by a board of governors appointed by the B.C. government. Decision-making responsibilities will not be shared with an academic senate of faculty and students, and research will not be permitted unless approved by the board of governors, which CUFABC said will be made of non-experts from outside the school.
The people of the Fraser Valley, "lobbied for the creation of a university because they knew it would give them and their children a good education and a competitive edge," said CUFABC executive director Robert Clift. "The government has instead given them a private trade school, funded from the public purse."
The CUFABC is asking professors and administrators across the country not to take jobs at the TUBC, or to do research with the facility. Clift said his Association is not against the technical university itself, but the fact that it's title might mislead potential staff and students. "What they're going to get at Tech U. isn't what they're going to get at UBC or SFU," he said.
Langley MLA Lynn Stephens agrees that the term "university" doesn't fit with the definition of traditional universities, but said the new tech school was created to be different.
"We all have to look at the changing needs of people today," said Stephens, "and that includes education. We do need to have a very high level technical teaching facility to help us face the 21st century."
"Students will have a voice at all levels," she added.
The College Institute Educator's Association of B.C. is also worried about the TUBC's structure, and believes its funding would have been better spent supporting 450 - 500 full-time students currently in post-secondary education. The CIEA has asked that an independent reviewer assess the need for the TUBC.
In June, $2.8 million was allocated for the facility, which will be built on 73 acres at 56th Ave. and 180th St.
"It sounds to me their [the Associations'] attitude is 'Give more money to us and not to anybody else'," said Coleman. "I can't buy the argument that, if you extend education to more people, it's bad."
"Not every child wants to go to UBC and get an arts degree," he said. "You can't close the door on opportunities."