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 Canada4 , 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 reports5 , 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) Approximately 2300 distinct students or 911 FLE students, and 24% of all full-time students in the college system (2019/20). ii) The College is one of the province’s major providers of ABE, representing over 28% of regional college enrollments in 2019/20. iii) NWC delivers brokered curriculum while providing personalized support critical to student success. iv) 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 5 North West College, 2019-20 Annual Report https://www.northwestcollege.ca/mrws/filedriver/NWC_2019-20_Annual_Report.pdf

v) Whether it is ABE, Institute Credit or University programming, Indigenous students (i.e., self-identifying as First Nations, Métis or Inuit) represent 82% of full-time and 61% of the entire student population. vi) NWC provides programming and services to more Indigenous students (1400 distinct selfdeclared students; 29% of all Indigenous students in colleges in Saskatchewan) than any other college in Saskatchewan, including Northlands College (1131; 24% of all Indigenous students in Saskatchewan). vii) NWC continues to experience steady demand in English as an Additional Language (EAL) programming as a result of increased immigration to the NWC region. With this diverse and often vulnerable population, Student Services provides the value-added and individualized guidance needed to remove barriers to student success and addresses labour market needs. A comprehensive intake process, regular meetings with Student Services staff, career counselling and job coach services ensure that students feel valued through their education experience and supported as they successfully enter into the labour market. The impacts of the pandemic have not been equally evident across all areas of the province and country. The northwest is primarily comprised of small to medium size enterprises which have been entrepreneurial and resilient during the pandemic. Based on a recent and thorough national, provincial and local labour market analysis, the major industries in NWC’s region include health care, retail trade, public administration, education, accommodation and food services, agriculture, forestry, manufacturing, tourism, finance and insurance, and construction (see Figure 1 below). Although the oil and gas industry is growing in Saskatchewan, it employs few people in the northwest region compared to other regions in the province. Further to the above, few resource-sector companies have corporate offices within the region despite conducting operations within the NWC catchment area. As a result, the College ensures to maintain regular contact and communication with these organizations throughout the province and Canada based on where their respective headquarters are located. The College continues to assess labour market needs within the region and invest in developing and securing partners across various sectors in alignment with these market needs.

• 95,000 residents in 2 cities, 48 towns and villages, 29 RMs and 26 First Nations6 • 28% Indigenous descent6 • Home of 1/3 of Saskatchewan’s First Nations Communities6 • 48% under age of 356 • Major industries: Health Care, Retail Trade, Public administration, Educational services,

Accommodation and food services, Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting,

Manufacturing, Arts, entertainment and recreation, Finance and insurance and

Construction7

6 2016 Census of Canada, Province of Saskatchewan Division 16, Division 16, Town of Battleford, Sweetgrass FN and Mosquito FN. Also referenced in analysis Community Profiles for First Nations Communities, INAC (August 30, 2017)

7 Highest Ranked Occupations, Emsi Q3 2020 Data Set, (May 2021) www.economicmodeling.com