NORTH WEST COLLEGE – OVERVIEW
NWC is one of eight publicly funded colleges in Saskatchewan. The Regional College system, as a collective, serves 26% of all students while utilizing less than 8% of the entire provincial budget. As individual institutions that serve the needs of their respective communities, and as a collective system through the collaborative efforts of the ASRC, colleges not only play a key and integral role for the economic success of the province, but also do so efficiently given the funding allocations. Spanning over 44,000 square kilometers, one-third of Saskatchewan’s First Nations communities are situated within NWC’s service catchment area. Our region serves approximately 98,000 residents of which 28% (self-declared) are of Indigenous (First Nation, Métis, and Inuit) descent compared to the provincial average of 16%. According to the 2016 Census of Canada 4, Indigenous youth aged 14 and under represent 33.7% of the total Indigenous population, while non-Indigenous children aged 14 and under account for 16.7% of the non-Indigenous population. NWC’s region has a younger and faster growing Indigenous population compared to the provincial average. Some of the demographic elements above have led to a lower than average education attainment rates of Saskatchewan’s Indigenous population within the region. Therefore, NWC remains focused on building upon and enhancing a robust adult learning infrastructure to support learners to transition from education and training into the workforce. NWC continues to be committed to serving the needs of northwest Saskatchewan through a distributed model of program delivery from our two main campuses situated in the Battlefords and Meadow Lake. In addition, the College delivers programs in approximately 25 rural communities including First Nation reserves. The current pandemic has affected the number of on-reserve delivery sites. The College anticipates it will continue to provide programs and services within the respective communities as much as possible given the continued uncertain environment in which it operates. Although ABE programs are primarily delivered in communities outside urban areas, approximately 30% of the Skills Training seats are delivered off campus. NWC is one of the largest regional colleges in Saskatchewan. Based on published 2019/20 institutional annual reports 5, the following further articulates the important role NWC plays in the region we serve: (Numbers are lower than previous years due to the impact of the pandemic): i) ii) iii) iv)
Approximately 2300 distinct students or 911 FLE students, and 24% of all full-time students in the college system (2019/20). The College is one of the province’s major providers of ABE, representing over 28% of regional college enrollments in 2019/20. NWC delivers brokered curriculum while providing personalized support critical to student success. In addition to Institute Credit programs, NWC will continue to invest in University programming to meet the demand of students and industry in the region.
4
Statistics Canada. 2017. North Battleford [Population centre], Saskatchewan and Saskatchewan [Province] (table). Census Profile. 2016 Census. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-316-X2016001. Ottawa. Released November 29, 2017. https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/index.cfm?Lang=E North West College, 2019-20 Annual Report https://www.northwestcollege.ca/mrws/filedriver/NWC_2019-20_Annual_Report.pdf 5
NORTH WEST COLLEGE
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2021-24 BUSINESS PLAN
