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College responds to student petition
Distance courses for business administration program could be reinstated as early as next year: college president

Laura Busch
Northern News Services
Published Saturday, January 19, 2013

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
In response to a petition calling for a third year of business administration to be added on site in Yellowknife, Aurora College administration is considering reinstating distance courses.

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Jane Arychuk: president of Aurora College, says the college deals with many requests to expand programs. However, space and funding are an issue. - Laura Busch/NNSL photo

As it stands, business administration students usually go to the University of Lethbridge to get a business administration degree, as opposed to the two-year diploma offered in Yellowknife.

"We're so honoured that the students see us as a place that they would like to continue their education and I look forward to working with them to see if there are some other options that will meet our needs and meet their needs," said Jane Arychuk, president of Aurora College. "We're pleased to see that Northerners want to stay in the North and continue their education."

The main benefit of offering Athabasca University courses at college campuses in the territory is students have access to an instructor and are able to conduct their work in a classroom setting, said Arychuk. However, there are major differences between these classes and a typical college or university course. Athabasca University course work is designed to be completed by distance, and so students and instructors must get used to using communications technologies, like the Internet.

As recently as last year, Aurora College offered third-year courses through Athabasca University at the North Slave campus in Yellowknife and the Aurora Campus in Inuvik, Arychuk said. However, these courses were discontinued last summer due to what Arychuk called "bumps in the road."

"Maybe a few too many courses offered at once. We could maybe pare it down a bit so students can take a few courses per semester," she said when asked for specifics.

The Athabasca University courses could be reinstated in Yellowknife as early as next year, she said.

Adding third year courses on site in Yellowknife would be expensive as an entire new program would have to be developed and the transfer of credits would have to be recognized by other institutions, Arychuk said.

Students would still have to transfer to another university for a fourth year in order to finish a baccalaureate degree.

She added that the college may make future recommendations to the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to expand the program. Currently, the business administration program is offered at all three Aurora College campuses.

The petition is being circulated by students in the business administration program at the North Slave campus, which has an enrolment of 30 in that program.

"What we have right now is probably the best of both worlds because we are able to offer degrees with our affiliate universities," said Arychuk. "We are also able to allow our students to start their programs at small institutions close to home with the support and lead them directly into programs at larger institutions."

There are currently three degree programs at Aurora College: a bachelor of science in nursing program, a master of nursing program and a bachelor of education program. However, all degrees are granted by an affiliate university, not Aurora College.

"It's not something that's on my horizon right now," said Arychuk, who is only one month into her tenure as president of the college, when asked if Aurora College will be transformed into a degree-granting institution. "We have other issues to look at, so it's not something that I can speak to right now."

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