| Ireland offers free tuition for all post-secondary education students and experts say the policy has been an essential part of the country’s economic boom.
Bill Moore-Kilgannon, executive director of the left-wing lobby group Public Interest Alberta, says Alberta should be looking to countries like Ireland as a model of how to reform the province’s post-secondary system. He points out that Alberta currently has the lowest university participation rate in the country at 15.8 per cent and the second highest tuition – both of which are worrying trends.
"The potential is, if they continue to go down the same road as we have, we’ll have a system that’s very exclusive – only affordable to those who can afford the high prices," says Moore-Kilgannon. "Other jurisdictions have a different framing of how they approach post-secondary education as a public interest, as something that affects all. We all benefit from having a more educated society."
Public Interest Alberta is hosting a conference on post-secondary education from February 24 to 26 in Edmonton. Peter MacMenamin, deputy secretary general of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland, will be there to speak about Ireland’s strategy.
MacMenamin says the Irish government made tuition free for all post-secondary students in 1996.
"What has happened is there has been a much greater participation of the lower socio-economic groups," says MacMenamin. "The disparity is diminishing."
Part of what has happened is that post-secondary education is no longer regarded as just for the "elite."
"It’s a conceptual thing, a perception, and it’s very interesting because nobody predicted that," he says.
MacMenamim says the highly educated workforce in Ireland has been a large factor in its economic boom. He says one of Ireland’s biggest exports used to be its people, but now people are flocking to Ireland for jobs.
"The economy has boomed out of all recognition. Without higher education it wouldn’t have happened," he says.
Ireland also allows technical institutes to give out not only diplomas but also degrees, including master’s degrees and PhDs. MacMenamim says it’s been a positive step because people who might have been too intimidated to take a four-year degree at a university right out of high school are entering into post-secondary education and deciding to study for longer.
"If you’re coming from a background where maybe no one from your family has been beyond secondary school…. to go to a university where you know nobody from your (neighbourhood) has ever been, you know you’re going into something that’s out of your league and the problem with universities is they frequently make you feel that," says MacMenamin.
Degrees from technical institutes are comparable to university degrees in Ireland, he says.
Alberta’s Ministry of Advanced Education is currently conducting a review of the province’s post-secondary system. The government has established a steering committee, which will make recommendations about what steps the government should take. The report is expected to be finished this June.
"Our big concern is the review will lead to nothing and so it’s important that citizens and organizations come together and really say what can we actively do to really make sure that post-secondary education becomes more affordable, accessible and a higher quality," says Moore-Kilgannon. |
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