Three NWT post-secondary institutions have joined forces to improve educational opportunities for students in the North. 

Aurora College, Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning, and Coll猫ge nordique francophone, signed an official memorandum of understanding (MOU) Tuesday to collaborate on increasing access to post-secondary programs for Northerners. 

The three-way partnership aims to combine each institutionSA国际影视传媒檚 specialty, in order to improve educational opportunities available to students without having to move south. The collaboration allows the facilities to continue offering that which makes them distinct, while leveraging the scale of the schools together.  

SA国际影视传媒淔or francophones, weSA国际影视传媒檙e such a small population we wouldnSA国际影视传媒檛 be able to do it alone,SA国际影视传媒� said Jos茅e Clermont, executive director of Coll猫ge nordique. SA国际影视传媒淲e will leverage our individual strengths to collectively build on the complementary nature of our programming and offer the best possible choice and quality post-secondary education experiences,SA国际影视传媒� she said.

The MOU comes as Aurora College is working to transition into a polytechnic university over the next six years.  

While still in the first phase of that transformation, Aurora College spokesperson Jeff Turner said the partnership among NWT post-secondary institutions SA国际影视传媒渋s an important part of ensuring the future polytechnic university fulfills its mandate of serving NWT post-secondary needs.SA国际影视传媒�

Turner said future polytechnic students could have the opportunity to transfer credits between the institutions, and that the MOU will allow them access SA国际影视传媒渢o the expertise of faculty with a wide range of skills and knowledge.SA国际影视传媒�

As the collaboration remains in its early stages, other details of what the MOU will mean for future students has yet to be determined. 

As it stands, SA国际影视传媒渘o idea is a bad idea,SA国际影视传媒� said Aurora College president Andy Bevan.

The three schools have committed to continuing to meet regularly, sharing ideas, and hearing from staff, students and other interested members of the public. 

Kelsey Wrightson, Dechinta executive director, said student involvement is key to directing how the MOU is SA国际影视传媒渁ctually implemented,SA国际影视传媒� and what that will look like for program decision-making.

She said the school consistently hears, through exit interviews and conversations with students, that students want to continue to learn, live and work in the North, close to their communities.

SA国际影视传媒淪igning this MOU, it's the first step to actually establishing this web, this network of opportunities that students can have, that will direct them to different institutions across the territory,SA国际影视传媒� Wrightson said.

In a 2019 SA国际影视传媒渟trategic frameworkSA国际影视传媒� document released by the Department of Education, Culture, and Employment (ECE), a need for increased collaboration among post-secondary institutions in the territory was highlighted as a means of creating more opportunity for student success. 

The MOU is in response to that call.  

SA国际影视传媒淚SA国际影视传媒檝e been really heartened by our conversations that weSA国际影视传媒檝e already had, both as individuals between our institutions, and now the three of us being at the same table,SA国际影视传媒� Wrightson said. SA国际影视传媒淓veryone is really open and excited about the different opportunities, so I feel nothing but positive that that's going to happen as we move forward.SA国际影视传媒�