When the results from the Aurora College Foundational Review were released last week some Northern scholars were surprised to read findings from ECE which stated the need for a SA国际影视传媒渞evolutionary approachSA国际影视传媒� in post-secondary education.

For a decade, Dechinta Bush University has stationed itself in the North with the mission of providing quality education for Northern students.

The faculty at Dechinta say with public investment from the GNWT they would be able to co-exist with a new polytechnic university that could make its way to the territory as early as 2024.

Dechinta president Glen Coulthard said the review leaves out Dechinta as being a source of quality education in the North despite the group currently offering credited programs through partnerships with both the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the University of Alberta.

However, he does see a future where the two could co-exist.

SA国际影视传媒淲e support initiatives that would foster an avenue for post-secondary education in the North but we need public resources in order to continue doing the good work we are doing which isn't being advocated for in the proposal,SA国际影视传媒� said Coulthard.

SA国际影视传媒淲e see ourselves as being complimenting, in a critically important way, what is being left out of the polytechnic university proposal.SA国际影视传媒�

Dechinta has been advocating for Indigenous-lead post-secondary education for a decade. Something the GNWT claimed was not possible, said dean of land-based education Erin Freeland-Ballantyne

SA国际影视传媒淲e have been able to do something SA国际影视传媒� that especially when we started SA国际影视传媒� the government said was impossible,SA国际影视传媒� said Freeland-Ballantyne

SA国际影视传媒淭hey said land-base education is too expensive, youth aren't interested in being on-the-land, there's no market for this education but when we designed a program that was informed by what communities wanted.SA国际影视传媒�

Freeland-Ballantyne said the approach has resulted in a decades worth of quality education. As for the future of post-secondary education she urged the government to start thinking outside the box.

SA国际影视传媒淭he status quo is not working,SA国际影视传媒� she added.

Results from the Aurora College review were released May 30. The review contains 67 recommendations for how to manage programs, recruit and retain students, restructure the collegeSA国际影视传媒檚 system of governance, and improve the overall operation of the college. The overarching recommendation however, is to transform Aurora College into a SA国际影视传媒淣orthern Canada Polytechnic UniversitySA国际影视传媒� within the next six to eight years, providing education to northerners as early as 2024.

Earlier this year faculty at Dechinta were contacted by ECE for input on a discussion paper designed to get insight from stakeholders as to the where the direction of post-secondary education should be going in the NWT.

In the discussion paper the university called for a quality-based education system which would focus on the needs of Northern students.

SA国际影视传媒淭he foundational review of the college pointed to an aspect that the public echoed and that there is not a solid vision from the GNWT in terms of post-secondary education,SA国际影视传媒� said Freeland-Ballantyne. SA国际影视传媒淚 think we've established that there is a huge need and a huge want to be able to take University programs that are relevant and to stay in the North... the time is now and what we can offer this government is an Indigenous studies University option that is in the North and is already happening.SA国际影视传媒�

Dechinta only has the capacity to provide Indigenous studies education to 10 students annually. For the upcoming 2018-19 semester they have already received 30 applicants although they have not begun advertising their programs.

Dechinta said there should be a political obligation to right a century's worth of wrongdoing to Indigenous education that can only be achieved through political and financial investment.

SA国际影视传媒淵ou're going to have to invest in public education for Indigenous peoples well beyond our current funding patterns. That's the only way we will achieve any type of reconciliation that's worth its name,SA国际影视传媒� said Coulthard, who is also an Indigenous studies professor at UBC.

Dechinta offers on-the-land based programming primarily in the Denedeh, but has expanded the curriculum to the Dehcho and Sahtu regions, employing 130 elders and Indigenous scholars in the process.

If the GNWT decides to invest 100 per cent in the Northern Polytechnic University it could mean the status quo for Dechinta for years to come, they said.
SA国际影视传媒� with files from Sidney Cohen.