This vision and plan arrives on the provincial scene at an opportune time since the Government of Alberta is currently engaged in its own process to build “a learning society” with post-secondary education at the centre of those discussions. Shortly after the government launched its own system review in 2005, Public Interest Alberta assembled a campaign to provide the public with opportunities to participate more fully in this important dialogue.

 

“We held a series of public forums around the province,” says Bill Moore-Kilgannon, Executive Director of Public Interest Alberta. “We also held our own provincial conference in February 2006 to hear from Albertans about the critical issues facing post-secondary education and to explore solutions.”

 

Through the consultations, Albertans offered a broad range of concerns and perspectives on the system’s challenges and directions required to remedy problems and improve the system. Public Interest Alberta relied on these insights and suggestions as key elements in assembling a vision and plan that is premised on an absolute commitment to develop the full potential of every Albertan, and the report’s recommendations follow from that conviction.

 

The document itself, however, is more than an enumeration of recommendations. David Milner, Past-President of ACIFA, explains that “the document recognizes there is a tremendous opportunity before Alberta to make prudent policy changes and substantial and new investments in post-secondary education that will have far-reaching effects on Alberta’s global competitiveness and the quality of life enjoyed by all Albertans.”

 

To grasp this opportunity, Public Interest Alberta advocates that Alberta must increase its post-secondary education participation rate––which currently is among the lowest in Canada––by removing financial, cultural, and physical barriers that inhibit Albertans from achieving their full potential. It also requires the system’s capacity to grow and meet increasing demands placed on it by students, but expanding the system must not come at the expense of quality. Rather, the province must simultaneously protect quality by making the necessary investments to ensure Alberta has among the lowest student to faculty ratios in the country.

 

Promoting quality in the post-secondary education system also requires attracting and retaining the best faculty, staff, and post-graduate students, and Alberta’s success in this regard coupled with new and substantial public investments in support of research will help to ensure that leading edge advances can be made to happen here.

 

“In order to make a difference,” adds Moore-Kilgannon, “we need the government to commit to funding levels that will allow us to make substantial improvements in the quality, accessibility, and affordability of our [post-secondary education] system.” The Public Interest Alberta document calls on the government to provide funding levels to public post-secondary education institutions that rival the highest levels among North American jurisdictions.

 

Public Interest Alberta advocates that in addition to the promise of sustainable economic prosperity, the promise of a high quality, accessible, and affordable post-secondary education system is also in a society that has improved social well being. According to Public Interest Alberta, the social outcomes related to post-secondary education are just as important as prosperity and economic outcomes.

 

The Public Interest Alberta Task Force includes representatives from ACIFA, the Confederation of Alberta Faculty Associations, the Non-Academic Staff Association at the University of Alberta, the Alberta Union of Public Employees, and provincial student groups from the college, institute, and university sectors.