The Alberta government’s move to allow DeVry Institute of Technology to offer degree programs is causing waves of discontent within Calgary’s academic circles.
The private, for-profit technical institute was accredited last week through an Order in Council to offer three baccalaureate degree programs under the Universities Act of Alberta. Starting immediately, students will be able to earn four-year bachelor of technology degrees in computer information systems, electronics engineering technology and business operations.
But while critics say the decision creates an uneven playing field for publicly funded institutions like universities and colleges who rely on provincial funding, DeVry president John Ballheim says the institute is playing a key role in helping the economy without relying on government grants.
“If we’re going to attract the businesses and industries we need for our province to prosper, we need high knowledge workers, highly skilled workers,” Ballheim says. “The government has seen this as one way to add to the milieu of post-secondary options ultimately to the benefit of all Albertans.”
But some officials and faculty at both the University of Calgary and the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology believe allowing private companies to grant degrees — a first in Canada — is a significant attack on public education.
“We were quite shocked at the announcement,” says Barbara Samuels, vice-president, academic at SAIT. “We feel a for-profit institution taking money out of the public purse will create a huge impact on the post secondary institutions in Alberta,” she says, adding a precedent has now been set for other private companies.
“We don’t mind competing as an educational institution for students. But when our hands are tied behind our back in terms of regulating tuition fees, and they will not be subject to the tuition fee regulation, that means we can’t compete in the same way.”
Samuels adds that post-secondary institutions within Alberta can meet the demand for skilled and technical workers “as long as we have the appropriate funding and are allowed to compete with the same set of qualifications and criteria.”
U of C Faculty Association president John Baker has also spoken against the DeVry degrees, saying there was a lack of public consultation in the process. New Democrat leader Raj Pannu added the “secretive” accreditation process has resulted in an unprecedented intrusion of the private sector into Alberta’s post-secondary sector.
But Ballheim disagrees, terming the criticism a “knee-jerk emotional reaction.” He notes the accreditation path through the province’s Private Colleges and Accreditation board (PCAB) was a rigorous process closely scrutinized by independent evaluators within Canada’s academic community.
Ballheim adds tuition is the only revenue source available to DeVry. Unlike public institutions, “we are in no way seeking government grants, we don’t want them.”
DeVry is part of a private string of 21 campuses throughout North America which serve about 40,000 students. There are 1,400 full-time students in Calgary.
