Short-sighted changes to the Okanagan College Adult Upgrading Program at Vernon are unfair to some students and will have long term effects for those students and our community.
In early September, after students had already registered for in person Adult Upgrading (AU) classes, Okanagan College (OC) abruptly cut some of those courses and redirected students on online versions. Not all the affected students were willing or able to accept those changes. The numbers are small but for some, the negative impacts will be real and long lasting. Missing out or even delaying taking some courses can cause some to become discouraged and miss out on short time line opportunities or drop out all together.
The enrolment in Adult Upgrading courses at OC has always varied with the cycles of the economy, locally, provincially and nationally. When jobs are plentiful enrolment goes down, when a large employer moves or shuts down and the economy slows enrolment goes up but there is always a core number of the local population that needs access to Adult Upgrading.
Students entering Adult Upgrading typically have been out of school for several years or even decades. Many of them want and need a stable in-person-type course to feel comfortable and supported as they begin their path to a new career. The teaching staff at Vernon are amazing, supportive and caring. They help students adjust to their return to education. Many students in AU move on to other programs at OC or other local institutions that lead to good stable employment that supports our community. So losing even a few students can have a serious ripple effect.
Since retiring from teaching at OC I have been in contact with dozens former students: nurses, RN and LPN, teachers, care aids, accountants, lab techs, physiotherapist, pharmacists, water quality techs, trades persons and many others who have advanced to their current career thanks to the Adult Upgrading Program at the Vernon campus of OC. Ask around, how many friends or children of friends or people who provide you with services locally attended OC? Some of them will have entered via upgrading courses.
If these cuts continue into the future the college will lose students and Vernon as a community will lose out as well.
Please support a growing and vibrant community by letting Okanagan College know that cuts to in person classes for Adult Upgrading students in Vernon are not acceptable.
Lloyd Davies
Retired Okanagan College instructor
