October 28, 1997

The Cadre

The fixed link from Holland College to UPEI

By: Todd MacLean

Recently, adecision was made that considers credits from Holland College and credits from UPEI to be one in the same.

Ata Senate meeting on October 10th, a motion was passed stating that UPEI will now accept transfer credits from colleges, thus finally com- mencing the destruction of the stone wall that once separated community colleges from uni- versities.

“Tt was done mainly out of common sense,” said John Crossely, VP Academic, and one who is very much in fa- vour of the issue. “The previ- ous policy only allowed the transferring of credits from university to university. But when we realized the benefits that could come about from the [transferring college cred- its] policy, and the fact that we were out of sync with other provinces on this issue, we decided to bring it in.”

The policy also origi- nated because it was brought to the attention of administra- tors that several accounting courses from Holland College and UPEI had almost identical course curriculums, and there- fore it only seemed logical that they should equal each other in terms of academic credit.

“If a student takes a college course with the same credentials as the university course, then they should obvi- ously be able to transfer the credits--it shouldn’t matter whatinstitution itcomes from.” said Wendy Venema, mem- ber of Senate. “But not every course will be accepted. It must meet with university [lev- els], and be approved by the registrar’s office before given credit.”

Another benefit, be- sides the new opportunities that college students now have, is the economic result of the new policy. ee “If we could bring in at least 20 students per year through this program, then that would mean upwards of tens

of thousands of dollars to the

university.” predicted Crossely. However, despite these

convincing statements in fa- vour of the college transfer credits issue, these same points are also being used to argue against the issue; specifically the freedom of college level students to enter university, and the economic, rather than academic benefits of the pro-

“| just question whether [college] students will be quali- fied to study courses at a uni- versity level,”said Janice Broderick, student council president, and one who is in strong opposition to this newly formed policy. “I feel thatthey might even be short changing present UPEI students be- cause of this.”

Crossely does in fact recognize this difficulty in ad- justing that incoming college students might have as being one of the more fundamental problems of allowing them to transfer directly into univer-

sity.

“Many students from the college programs are prob- ably not going to be ‘hitting the ground and running,” said Crossely. “Colleges do not emphasize a self directed or antonymous type of work. Here, it’s a very self-moti- vated type of atmosphere. Because of their presence we may have to integrate such thingsas skills training into the courses, whereas we haven’t before.”

Crossely also continued to say that people invest in a college for a different type of reason: to train a labour force for a short period of time. Hence, universities and col- leges essentially teach for fun- damentally different types of purposes. ;

“What threatens the in- tegrity of the university is short term labour market preparation,” explained Crossely. “This is not what university courses are origi-

nally designed to do.”

Another problem of the future that Broderick men- tioned was the abstract possi- bility ofaunification ofthetwo institutions in the future.

“It’s not just the fact that we now accept mere cred- its from colleges, but that we may amalgamate in the fu- ture,” stated Broderick. “This could definitely be the first step towards something like that.”

In response to this, Crossely replied, “I can’t im- agine what things will look like

in 25 to 30 years here. But I also can’t imagine why any- one would want to bring two fundamentally different types of institutions together.” However, Crossely also went on to explain about cer- tain “articulated programs” that may come into effect sometime soon, which would feature a path through educa- tion that could be easier than the full 4 year university de- gree. This would mean, for example, getting a4 year busi- ness degree by taking 2 years

:

National Détense Detence nationale

of courses at both Holland College and UPEI. But this also means, strangely enough, and obvious step towards edu- cational union between the two institutions.

In essence, the allow- ance of transfer credits be- tween community colleges and UPEI will mean more students, and greater financial benefit. However, this financial gain may not be adequate compen- sation for ultimate academic deterioration.

eo

-* Qe a ee +) , a ia (H)

where you work selected evenings and weekends, meeting challenges, learning with hands-on experience and earning extra income, Find the strength to do something exciting and different. Join the Naval Reserve. For more information, come and see us or call us at:

HMCS QUEEN CHARLOTTE 10 Water Street Parkway, Charlottetown, PEI 368-0432 / 0447 or 1-800-856-8488

Find a part of yourself you never knew

existed in the Naval Reserve. That’s

ry

"8

YON gy! YOUR PRIDE. YOUR FUTURE. YOUR MOVE.