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SiMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
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MEMORANDUM
To
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Chairmen of Departments
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From
Brian G. Wilson
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Vice-President, Academic
Subject.... Interior Programming 1978/79
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Date.. ?
1978/03/28
I would like to provide you with an as up-to-date
picture as I have of plans for Interior Programming in the
forthcoming fiscal year. A variety of statements have appeared
in the press and elsewhere which have raised more questions
than provided answers. In this memorandum I will try to
summarize developments over the past six months.
The Report of the S.F.U. Interior Programs Planning
Committee, based on six months' evaluation of the possibilities
for degree completion programming, was forwarded to the Interior
University Programs Board on September 15th. Copies were also
sent to the Universities Council of British Columbia and to
the Ministry of Education. This Report suggested a two-prong
approach to the question of how to provide degree completion
opportunities to residents of British Columbia who for economic,
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geographic or health reasons were not able to attend one of
the three public universities. The development of a distance
learning system was proposed which could provide credit courses
at the upper levels for all residents of the province. The
approach suggested was to include the development of course
materials by university departments, which could be distributed
in print form, supplemented by audio-visual techniques, to
students in remote locations. This learning-at-a-distance
activity would be supported by a tutorial system, where practi-
cable on a face-to-face basis or using telephone. The second
proposal was the creation of a university presence in the
Interior based on the concept of Regional University Schools.
A School would include ten to twelve faculty members, from a
variety of disciplines focussing on a common research area.
The program taught at an individual School would focus on a
multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary theme, unique to that
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particular School. This model supposes that the quality of
instruction and the interest of the subject area would be
sufficient to draw students from all over the province and
beyond, in order to make the development economically viable.
The common area of research would also provide long-term
viability for individual faculty members in a way that a con-
ventional university program with one or at most two per
discipline, with interests covering a wide soectrum of each
discipline, could not have.
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1978/03/28
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This proposal was considered by the Interior Univer-
sity Programs Board and was approved in principle in December
1977. The proposal was also approved by the Senate Committee
on Academic Planning and by Senate and the Board of Governors
during the Fall semester.
At the December I.U.P.B. meeting, S.F.U. was invited
to develop a specific theme for a particular location as a
pilot project for the concept, to be instituted in September
1978. Since the operating costs for each School might approximate
$1 000 000 when, fully running, there was some hesitation about
committing the province to sequential development of a number
of such Schools until the concept had been evaluated in practice.
As a result of this request the Planning Group at
S.F.U. suggested the development of a School of Resource Manage-
ment at Kelowna and presented a proposal for this with a detailed
budget evaluation to the Programs Board in January. This proposal
was accepted with a minor cl-iange in the budget, and recommended
to the Universities Council for recommending funding through
the Ministry of Education. Part of the proposal indicated that
development of a detailed curriculum must await the hiring of
a Director for the Program and initial staff, taking into account
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the needs and interests of students in the Kelowna area and the
local environment.
The Universities Council tabled the recommendation
at its February meeting since the program proposal was not
complete. If S.F.U. had recommended an existing pro
gram
to be
developed at Kelowna the Universities Council might have found
the proposal more acceptable, but the proposal for a brand new
program was seen to require evaluation by the Program Coordinating
Committee of Council before Council could act upon it.
The Interior University Programs Board met on February
27 and 28 and approved the following motion:
That whereas the Interior University Programs
Board has recommended the establishment as
a pilot project of the Simon Fraser University
School of Resource Management in Kelowna as
part of the Board's overall planning to pro-
vide degree completion programs in the Interior
of the Province, and
whereas the Board has recommended that Simon
Fraser University be granted the sum of
$585, 320. 00 to develop a detailed curriculum
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for the School, to appoint a Director and
initial faculty and to offer part of the
program in the. Fall of 1978.
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Be it resolved that the Board request that its
representatives meet with the Program Coordinating
Committee of the Universities Council of British
Columbia to describe the program and explain the
need for some form of approval in principle in
order that funds can be expeditiously released
to emergent expenditures.
Two staff members of the Interior University Programs
Board and I met with the Program Coordinating Committee of
Council early in March with another member of the Board also
present, sitting as a member of the Program Coordinating
Committee of Council. After considerable discussion the Program
Coordinating Committee voted not to recommend the program to
Council. Representatives of the University of British Columbia
and the University of Victoria, who spoke while I was present at
the Program Coordinating Committee meeting, opposed the proposal.
On the one hand it was suggested that the concept of Regional
University Schools was a mistake and that Resource Management
could not effectively be taught at the undergraduate level; on
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the other hand it was suggested that the concept was good but
that the choice of Resource Management was bad. However, if
Resource Management was to be taught, then the University of
British Columbia,with its better known resources in that area,
should assume responsibility for it. There was some concern
regarding an interdisciplinary development remote from a main
campus.
The Universities Council considered the detailed
report of the Program Coordinating Committee and the motion of
the Interior University Programs Board and other submissions on
Friday, March 17 and approved the following motions:
That the Universities Council agree that the
School of Resource Management be established
in the Interior and
That the matter of the development of a de-
tailed curriculum and the appropriate means
to deliver the program be referred back to
the Program Coordinating Committee in collabor-
ation with the Interior University Programs
Board. Funds will be recommended by the Univer-
sities Council of British Columbia for the
hiring of consultants for planning purposes
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only, and no permanent staff is to be hired at
this time.
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This decision was reported in the press under the
heading "Universities Council Turns Down S.F.U. Proposal".
However, the wording of the motion makes it clear that the
concept has been accepted although detailed planning will be
necessary before full support is given to the proposal. I
should say that, although there is considerable opposition to
the proposal, both academic and political, we have received a
large amount of support for the concept from faculty members
both at S.F.U. and U.B.C. and from individuals in industry
and government. Although the concept was original, similar
kinds of programs related to Resource Management have been
and are being developed in a variety of locations in North
America and one has been in successful operation at the Uni-
versity of Edinburgh for several years.
As a result of the delay in approval of the program
it is clear that it will not be possible to commence the
teaching program in September 1978 and we are therefore taking
to the I.U.P.B. at its meeting on April 3rd a proposal to delay
implementation till September 1979. We shall ask for funds to
hire a Director for the program, to be associated in the develop-
ment of a detailed curriculum and to take charge of the logistical
problems associated with the development of the School. An
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Advisory Committee has been set up including representatives of
the three universities, government and industry which will advise
on the detailed curriculum. However, the development of what is
in a sense a departmental structure and the organization of
suitable space and research opportunities is clearly a more
complex operation than the offering of individual courses tied
to existing programs that we have been doing in Kelowna for the
last three years. There is some relief, therefore, that the
September 1, 1978 deadline has necessarily been relaxed since
it is important that the program be well researched, well staffed
and successful.
To date there has been little discussion of the second
thrust of the Report - the Distance Learnin
g
Program. The Univer-
sity received $217, 000. 00 to appoint a Director and initiate the
further development of courses and the development of a delivery
and support system throughout the province, last Fall. Dr.
Aronoff was appointed Director of the program and developments
have been underway. The scale of the development, however, has
been restricted because of the Ministry of Education's interest
in acquiring all or part of the United Kingdom Open University
system. If this was implemented in its entirety, it would
clearly be inappropriate for this University to mount a major
Distance Learning program throughout the province. However, the
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development of individual courses similar in content and
quality to those given on campus will proceed, in order to pro-
vide degree completion opportunities for S.F.U. students who
are only a few courses short of their degree, wherever they
live in the province. Unfortunately, we are still unclear
about the size and scope of Ministry plans in this area. A
tn-university committee has been set up to review Open
University materials and provide the Presidents of the uni-
versities with advice regarding the kind of programs that
should be offered and the materials available to assist in
their thounting. The level of our own programming in this area
for the future is quite unclear but we are seeking additional
funds in this year's allocation to continue our operation, in
order to have approximately forty courses available by September
1, 1979. There have been some suggestions that government
initiatives in this area will be disclosed in the Speech from
the Throne later this week. If so, the I.U.P.B. may be able
to make interim decisions in this area on April 3rd.
Apart from these major initiatives, we have received
support from the I.U.P.B. to continue the extensions of the
Professional Development Program into the Interior, that received
funding last year. $350,000.00 has been recommended to develop
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four modules which will maintain our presence in Nelson,
Cranbrook and Dawson Creek and initiate the certification
program at Terrace. With this development the Professional
Development Program will be available to students in all major
centres of the province, excluding Vancouver Island, except
Prince Rupert. $40,000.00 has also been recommended to con-
tinue the offering of evening credit courses at Chilliwack,
in association with Fraser Valley College. This will provide
funding for sixteen semester courses next Fall and Spring.
$30, 000k 00 was recommended to initiate an M.A. program in
Administrative Leadership by the Faculty of Education in
Kamloops commencing September 1. This will involve the prepar-
ation of Distance Learning materials to make the program
easily transportable to other Interior centres. A proposal
to develop a Native Teacher Program, modelled on the Mount
Currie program, at Enderby in the Okanagan
. was deferred.
Programs developed by the other two universities
have also been supported by the Interior University Programs
Board. The major elements of these at U.B.C. included the
provision of $150,000.00 to support the offering of credit
courses by the Faculty of Education and a variety of centres
throughout the province and $78, 000. 00 to set up a Bachelor
of Social Work one-year program, probably at Prince George.
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The University of Victoria proposed a B.F.A. and
B. Ed. program to utilize the David Thompson University Centre
at Nelson and a recommendation for $175,000.00 has been for-
warded by the Board to support this development. If this goes
ahead the potential annual cost is about $450,000.00. $156)000.00
has been recommended to provide for the offering of degree com-
pletion credit courses in face-to-face settings, in Arts and
Science, Education, Fine Arts and Nursing. $68,000.00 was
recommended to support the offering of an alternative B.S.W.
program, probably at Castlegar. There are several outstanding
requests from both universities.
It is important to emphasize that the funding for
all these programs is from a special line item in the Ministry
of Education. budget, identified for Interior Programming.
Consequently these developments can be seen as having no impact
on the general university operation, which is funded largely
by provincial government grant. It can be argued that the total
amount of operating money for the university system may not
increase by the amount necessary to fund the variety of projects
that I have described above and that therefore Interior Pro-
gramming will necessarily impact existing programs on the home
campuses. On the other hand it can be argued that the favourable
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publicity of the universities becoming involved outside their
campus walls and the educational, social and financial benefits
provided by programming in external communities will make the
universities overall political impact greater than it currently
is. At the moment, I hope that we maintain our enthusiasm and
provide the best kind of programming we can both on and off
campus.
BGW/tb
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B. G. Wilson
CC.
Dr. P. Jewett, President
Administrators
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