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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
When the appointment of Jane Arychuk as president of Aurora College became official at the beginning of this month she became the face of post-secondary learning in the territory.

With more than 30 years of experience as an educator in the NWT, she told Yellowknifer it's her experience as a kindergarten-to-Grade-12 principal in Fort Providence that has best prepared her for her new role.

"Before, I said that I was principal of the Yellowknife campus but now I am the principal of the college and oversee all three campuses and 23 learning centres, and I take responsibility for everything that happens under all those roofs," said Arychuk, who has previously held the position of campus director for the college's Yellowknife campus. "I need to be aware of what is going on and share in the successes and take some of the responsibility for some of the challenges that we're dealing with."

Aurora College, the only post-secondary institution in the NWT, offers a diverse range of programs targeted to meet the needs of Northern students, she said. For example, many students from the North cannot or do not wish to move south to pursue their education, although more and more, diplomas and degrees are necessary to landing fulfilling jobs.

"I really think we haven't done the best job in career planning and making sure that the people who are interested in a career stay on that path and don't veer off because something else becomes available, or if they veer off that we bring them back in," she said.

In response, Aurora College offers two degree programs - one in nursing and one in teacher education - and has established transfer agreements with a variety of southern universities, which enable students to complete the first two years of an undergraduate degree closer to home.

College administration is constantly looking to the future when developing new programs, considering what jobs will be available in the next 10 years and what courses will help students enter those careers, said Arychuk. The underground mining program is an example of this. When it became apparent that diamond mines in the territory were moving underground, the college developed a new program to train more underground miners. Approaching program development this way allows more jobs to stay in the North and ensures that graduates are equipped to work here, said Arychuk.

Northern students are always given priority during enrolment, said Arychuk. However, the number of applications from southern Canada and international applications have been increasing in recent years.

One way that Aurora College can accept more students is if a stand-alone Yellowknife campus is established, she said.

"Yellowknife's North Slave Campus has always made due," she said. "There is a big need for a stand-alone campus for Yellowknife. Both Thebacha in Fort Smith and Aurora in Inuvik have campuses. There have been a number of false starts to get a campus in Yellowknife but there is a definite need. If we are going to be an institution that we want people of the North to come to, then we need a stand-alone campus in our capital city that looks like a college-university campus."

Currently, the GNWT leases space in the Northern United Place building on 54 Street. Arychuck said she disagrees with the argument that a new campus would cost too much money.

"We could have bought a building with what's been paid to lease this building for the number of years that a campus has been talked about," she said.

The Yellowknife campus is in dire need of more space for students to spread out, work in groups or simply to do homework in a calm environment, she said. The Yellowknife campus has 16 classrooms, four labs and one library but there is very little room left over for students to use.

"Yellowknife does a really, really good job - an amazing job - with what they have," Arychuck said. "That's because of instructors, staff and students who are willing to accept what we have and still be a part of it."

Although Arychuk will move to Fort Smith in January to take up the office of president, she expects to travel back to Yellowknife often, as well as making visits to the Inuvik campuses and the college's 23 community learning centres.

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