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NORTHWEST TERRITORIES - Aurora College hopes to take advantage of the opportunities that come with the with a recessionary economy, said college president Maurice Evans. "I like to be an optimist and think people are going to see the opportunity that education provides in a recession," said Evans.

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"Certainly those people who are more skilled tend to ride out the storm better. This is often a time when (people) see their employment opportunities being limited by their skill sets. So I hope that individuals will look at the college and say, 'Here's a prime opportunity to reengage in a long, though-about education plan and come back to get themselves qualified in key areas.' In that sense I'm optimistic."

The college offers a number of popular options either for people looking to sharpen their skills or enter a new field, he said.

"We have programs like teacher education, social work, nursing. We're going to have a revitalized natural resources program, the trades programs - obviously we see a lot of opportunities. But folks are going to have to make those decisions about coming back to school," said Evans.

Last year, between the Yellowknife, Forth Smith and Inuvik campuses, 121 people graduated from the college. Notably, 15 of them came out of the newly expanded teacher education program.

Until last year, Aurora College offered only a three-year Bachelor of Education diploma, allowing successful graduates to teach at the elementary and junior high level in the NWT, but only in the NWT. Those who wanted to be eligible to teach throughout Canada had to take a fourth year at University of Saskatchewan.

"Last year was the very first year that we had all four year offered in the NWT," said a proud Evans, adding that most of the graduates had already completed their first three years and gone into the working world for a while before deciding to sharpen their skills with a fourth year.

"We were absolutely comfortable that the students who completed the three-year diploma were meeting all of the basic requirements there," said Evans. "But it allows them to move up the educational pay scale."

According to Evans, the fourth year has other benefits, besides increased pay for teachers.

"It just assures people in the community that the teachers are going to be as prepared as other teachers across Canada," said Evans. "Plus, our view is that the longer you can keep people in the North, the greater tendency for them to go back to their home communities. I think that's where the college's strength is: we train in the North, for the North and for our northern communities."

And the program will only grow as people realize that teaching is a recession-proof industry, added Evans.

"I think folks realize that education is another area that, even with the economic downturns, there's going to be job opportunities," he said.

One area of the college's operations that has been stalled is the Petroleum Operating Training Committee.

"We had a committee made up of all the oil companies that are involved (up north) basically saying, 'These are all the skill sets individuals would need if they wanted to work on the pipeline or run the pipeline down the road,'" said Evans.

Pipeline proponents like Atco, TransCanada, ConocoPhillips and Imperial Oil were on the committee.

"We had 11 apprentices go through and sign up with these companies after they took one of our basic courses here, a pre-technology program (which would later have been followed up with instrument technician training at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology).

"But because the Joint Review Panel (JRP) had not reported, the committee basically went dormant."

With pressure increasingly mounting on the JRP to finish its report before its newly announced deadline of December 2009, "We're hoping that the committee will be reactivated," said Evans.

The college is moving ahead with plans for an exciting addition to its program roster this year.

Based on the success of the mobile trades training lab currently operating out of Inuvik (see page B14), the college has petitioned the federal government for money to fund a program that will see the college's heavy equipment operator program (currently running out of Fort Smith) grow and add a mobile unit that could potentially locate itself in Fort Simpson and service nearby communities like Wrigley and Fort Liard.

Equipment like side dump trucks, loaders and tractors could be transported to whatever community requests training to operate that vehicle.

The mobile unit would take the pressure off the main program, which frequently must turn people away.

"It's one of our most heavily-subscribed programs," said Evans. "Basically, if you applied now, you'd be lucky to get in a year from now because we can only take 10 students a term."

Evans envisions classes of six to seven people for the mobile classes.

"We have many communities that are saying they can't get operators for their water trucks, graders. So we intend to offer it closer to home, designed and tailored to meet industry needs or whoever's needs," he said.

"While we have not signed all the ink on it, we have been successful with the federal government on a proposal."