Post-secondary caucus tours Olds College

Members of the federal post-secondary education caucus toured Olds College on Friday to get a first-hand look at the various facilities on the campus, particularly the Community Learning Campus linking high school, post-secondary and community in one place.

The committee toured the site for the Canadian Institute For Rural Entrepreneurship, the Landscape Pavillion, Land Sciences Building, botanic gardens and treatment wetlands. The tour finished off at the Bell-eLearning Centre with a demonstration of the community engagement sites.

Rod Bruinooge, MP for Winnipeg South and chair of the education caucus, said on the invitation of Wild Rose MP Blake Richards, the committee decided to come to Alberta and see for itself the work that is being done here. He said he was pleasantly surprised to find out about all the work being done on campus, particularly in the integration of secondary and post-secondary education. Bruinooge and most of the other caucus members weren't aware of what is happening at the college.

“I'm just very surprised at just how much is happening here and the really innovative approach they've taken to their education, primarily in the way that they've amalgamated the secondary with the post-secondary students. (It's) quite a different approach than any I've seen at any other campus across the country, so I think there's a very special thing happening here and I'm glad we came,” he said.

Bruinooge said the federal government has put a priority on innovative education, and some of the research on water filtration and analysis done at the college should have a positive benefit for the economy into the future.

“That change in philosophy has worked well for the colleges like Olds that have always had that relationship with the private sector as a key component of the way they do business, so I think that's really been … the one area that our government policy has worked so well here at Olds and other colleges,” he said.

Tom Thompson, president of the college, said he was glad to see caucus members and show them some of the projects that federal government funding has helped provide for, particularly in light of the college's centennial next year. The federal government has also helped the college with many deferred maintenance projects.

“We've received tremendous support in our applied research and innovation area in terms of getting a significant contribution from (the Western Diversification Program) towards the development of the treatment wetlands and several other initiatives. To have the post-secondary education (caucus) on campus … it gives us a chance to show them where that money has been put to good use,” he said.

Thompson said he hopes the visit last week will spur some of the caucus members to return next year during the college's year-long centennial celebrations.

The caucus has toured about 40 campuses in eight provinces across the country since getting its mandate in 2008. This was the first time the caucus had travelled to Alberta. Following the visit to Olds College, the committee was to travel to Red Deer to check out Red Deer College.