University

North West College Strategic Plan has significant revenue targets for contractual training and a priority of diversifying revenue. The College is committed to engaging business, industry and Indigenous partners to respond to their training needs and contribute to economic growth. During the next three years NWC will reengage current partners while building new relationships and strive for significant revenue generation. The College will access various funding opportunities federally and provincially to expand program offering. The College will also develop a microcredential strategy. The College is committed to organizing training to maximize an employers’ ability to access the Canada-Saskatchewan Job Grant to assist with the fulfillment of their training needs. Efforts in this area will reduce our reliance on government funding and support sustainability.

University

University programming was negatively impacted by the pandemic. The individual courses offered at the Battlefords Campus in the past were reduced significantly given the big shift to online. However, the great news is the College’s fourth cohort of Bachelor of Education in Meadow Lake will convocate in the spring of 2022. With this program completing and our belief there is pent up demand for face-to-face programming, the College has been exploring with both universities opportunities for delivering cohort degree programs in the region beginning fall of 2022. Discussions have primarily been taking place regarding Social Work and Nursing. With the budget announcement of expanded seats in nursing these conversations became more timely.

The College and U of R have been working on an opportunity for the Social Work degree to be delivered in the northwest. The College was looking for a program that would allow more than one exit point with a credential especially given the social work entrance requirements. The plan is based on a certificate and diploma opportunity as well as the full degree. This face-to-face program will be delivered with technology between the North Battleford and Meadow Lake campus to provide greater access and opportunity. We are excited to finalize the agreement and begin recruiting students.

The College has also been in discussions with both the U of S and the U of R/Saskatchewan Polytechnic regarding the Bachelor of Science in Nursing. The College has always offered the pre-nursing year for the U of S program and for U of R the students can already take year 3 and 4 here in the Battlefords. At the time of writing, we have interest from both universities but no written commitment so the College will continue to deliver the pre-Nursing year for the U of S this fall with hopes of an announcement before classes begin.

In December 2018, the College signed an MOU with the University of Saskatchewan to partner on the delivery of the first year of the Edwards School of Business on the Battlefords Campus. It is unclear what post-pandemic will look like however the College will be ready to welcome local learners back into these courses.

The detailed program plan for face-to-face university programming at each of our main campuses is listed in Table 8 below.