Students in Calgary will soon have more options to consider when applying for degree programs.
Mount Royal College is increasing the number of degree programs from its first one last year to a total of six. The addition of a bachelor of arts, arts-justice, science, business and communications last month to its previous bachelor of nursing is just another step in the process of the college becoming a university.
MRC Students’ Association vice-president academic John Blomme admitted there still needs to be some work done, but is optimistic because of the progress made so far. All necessary costs needed to become a university have already been covered and over 50 per cent of students are in degree programs–a requirement for the Campus Alberta Quality Council. Now, only a title change is needed, he noted.
“We’re undergoing an expansion of our labs and science facilities and that’s very important part of what’s going on,” he said. “We’re waiting on the announcement [for] whether or not our proposal for a new library building will be funded. The college has already reworked its governance model in order to be more university-like.”
Government of Alberta Advanced Education and Technology spokesperson Rachel Bouska was supportive of MRC. She said the provincial government recognized the need of increased accessibility to post-secondary education for students.
“In our Roles and Mandates policy framework, a university is defined as an institution offering degrees and baccalaureate pro- grams,” she said. “Right now MRC is defined as a baccalaureate and applied-study institution.”
Blomme noted a university is required, by definition, to do research, but ensured that MRC would continue its focus on teaching.
“The proportion of teaching to research will be on the teaching side and the school is committed to that,” said Blomme. “By no means are we looking to infringe on the research mandate of the University of Lethbridge, University of Calgary and University of Alberta.”
MRC first-year journalism student Josh Naud said he chose to attend the school because the U of C does not offer a journalism program and the SAIT program was too narrow.
“Class sizes in the communications classes I have are usually no more than 15-30 [students],” said Naud, noting sizes were about the same in arts and science classes. “I’ve never had a class that was more than 30 people.”
Bouska and Blomme were unable to disclose any plans the provincial government to build a new college to replace MRC. Blomme explained that the school will still be able to give out diplomas and certificates under its new stratification.
“The college is committed to offering those programs for the time being, but the eventual idea is–way down the road–to phase those things out,” he said. “A lot of our programs can be duplicated at SAIT and Bow Valley College currently.”
Bouska agreed an increase in programs offered at other colleges and polytechnics would be necessary to accommodate the change.
“Institutions can’t be all things to all people,” she said. “We encourage institutions to improve collaboration among universities to increase student access.”
Naud was excited for the change and noted it was well deserved. He explained he wasn’t worried about the new title affecting the quality of the programs offered.
“The quality of instruction is really good,” he said. “Between all of [the instructors], they’ve got huge experience. They’ve got no shortages of stories to tell and advice to give. They try to give you a broad scope of knowledge of the field.”