PROGRAM OF CONTINUING EDUCATION

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RECOMMENDATION: that a Program of Continuing Education be

introduced under the direction of an individual responsible to the

Vice-President, Academic. The initial emphasis of this program

should be on the offering of late afternoon and evening academic

degree credit courses and programs at the upper division level,

which complement the regional college lower division offerings.

Emphasis should also be placed on the undertaking of feasibility

studies and pilot projects relating to the offering of such courses

and programs at locations other than the current locations, at times

other than the current times and in ways other than the current ways.

REASONS FOR THIS RECOMMENDATION:

1.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

At the Senate Meeting of September 14, 1970, a proposal by

the Faculty of Education to partially implement a split-summer semester

was approved by a considerable majority. While there were several

objections made to the specific proposal, many of the statements made

at that meeting appeared to reflect an interest in moving in a more

effective manner into the area of conlinuing education. Most universities

consider that education is a continuing objective for all reasonable men

and women and that the three or four years of concentrated study in

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the environs of a university does not provide an individual with a total

educational experience for the rest of his life; rather, additional

courses, refresher courses and general interest courses lead to the

broadening of interest of the individual and, hopefully, contribute to a

better standard of living either through enhanced earning opportunities

as a result of the learning of new skills or by his ability to extract the

maximum enjoyment and value from available sources.

At Simon Fraser University a decision was made at an early

stage not to duplicate programs at the University of British Columbia and

consequently the three original faculties have not been augmented since

the initial stages of university development. To differentiate programs

within Simon Fraser from those ongoing at the University of British

Columbia in Arts, Science and Education, bold innovative approaches

to education in the liberal arts were to be encouraged so that a different

type of education would be available at Simon Fraser. While considerable

innovation in teaching techniques took place, particularly in therly

years, a fairly cursory examination of present university offerings

indicates that the detailed programs are not significantly different from

similar programs provided at other institutions in Canada and the United

States. Perhaps it is time to reassess the rather negative goals expressed

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earlier in this statement, i.e.

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of not duplicating programs and

facilities offered at the University of British Columbia and to look

at the position of Simon Fraser University in the community of the

70's. Such a total review is not the subject of the present paper

which is directed solely to one aspect of such a review: the topic of

continuing education.

In a recent survey of the continuing education opportunities

provided by the public colleges and universities in the Province, several

facts emerge. First, a large diversity of course offerings are provided

by The University of British Columbia to people in the Lower Mainland

area. Second, the regional colleges undertake to provide a number of

academic transfer courses at the first and second year level for students

in the evening. The supply of such offerings by the regional colleges

is much heavier in the Lower Mainland area than it is in the outlying

areas of the Province. Third, with the exceptions of the fields of

Psychology ,

Sociology ,

Anthropology and English

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no individual can

obtain in this Province a Bachelor's degree by taking evening courses

alone. It should be noted here that Vancouver is the only metropolitan

centre of its size in the whole of the North American continent that does

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not provide such an opportunity. While UBC is considering such a step

and has formed a Senate committee to examine this possibility

,

any

recommendations appear to be at least a year away. Thus, by taking

such a step now, Simon Fraser University has an opportunity to lead

the educational community of British Columbia in meeting a real

educational need. Finally, there are large areas of the Province that

are not reached by any institution offering post secondary education.

It should be noted that, with the exception of this past year,

there has been a significant rise in the number of individuals taking

advantage of the opportunities for continuing education offered by the

colleges and universities in the Province. The downtrend of last year

appears largely attributable to the economic situation with the

accompanying inability of individuals to find the money necessary to

take the courses offered. The increasing enrolment figures in continuing

education activities also suggest that there is a significant proportion of

the population who are desirous of continuing their education but who

are unable to accommodate their work schedules to the demands of a

normal semester or trimester operation. Given economies of scale,

the establishment of new regional colleges and/or universities in the

outlying parts of the Province would be extremely difficult to justify.

This lack of direct access to a higher education facility

,

however ,

does

not justify the denial of educational opportunities for the people residing

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in these areas. What it does require is that existing institutions, and

here we think particularly of Simon Fraser, must, as public universities,

devise means of bringing educational opportunities to these individuals.

With the increasing difficulty of obtaining funds to pursue

traditional topics of scholarship for universities across the country

and, indeed, around the world, we are faced with a situation, for

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at least, that new programs introduced must almost necessarily

be of a revenue generating type; indeed, self-supporting programs would

offer the most attraction. In the long term our financial situation may

improve but one would be optimistic to predict a return to the relatively

free spending days of the middle 60's. Compared with other provincial

universities, Simon Fraser is in the odd position that, apart from part

of its teacher training program in the Faculty of Education and the

M. B. A. program in the Department of Economics and Commerce,

together with a contribution from the orientation of the Theatre to the

community and certain rather smaller interactions, the University

community relates rather specifically to the community resident for a

day time program within the present campus buildings.

.

A proposed eight week summer course, which may be offered

to a clientele consisting almost entirely of school teachers within the

Province, is an example of a program which might well become largely

self-supporting. By restricting the minimum size of classes, such

summer session programs can be self-supporting and indeed are money

makers at several universities in Canada.

Many Simon Fraser faculty do in fact participate in the U. B.C.

continuing education program but Simon Fraser University gains no

recognition in the broader public sphere for such work. The proposal

which follows is designed to remedy this situation and recommends the

establishment of a pilot program in continuing education.

2.

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Continuing education programs are of several types. At one

extreme we find the enrolment of part-time students in regular day-

time classes in the University. Late afternoon courses and evening

courses provided on campus would facilitate those students from the

surrounding community who wish to complete degree programs, enter

new degree programs or partake in extension courses during part of

to

what is normally considered their leisure time. This kind of program,

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which might utilize some of the large amount of talent available at

Simon Fraser together with rather excellent instructional facilities

can also be duplicated off campus, particularly where the need for

laboratories is minimal. This would mean that, at certain hours of

the day, individuals might attend differeht centres, at their convenience,

to continue their education, whether formal or informal.

Another type of continuing education involves those who are

unable to attend at specific locations for learning and instruction. In

at least two provinces in Canada correspondence courses are available

for credit or without credit to students who meet admission standards

in whatever part of Canada. Here the interaction with the instructor

is less frequent than in the former instances, usually consisting of

written communications on an approximate two-week frequency basis.

More recently moves into education through television and through

radio have been initiated and a large scale experiment is being conducted

in England through the 'Open University". In each of these programs it

is usual to have follow-up sessions with,tutors or by essay or by telephone

to provide interaction between students and faculty. However, such

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programs still require that an individual be available at specific hours

of the day or evening and citizens who work on a split shift operation

may find it impossible to make such appointments on a continuing basis.

An entirely new suggestion has come from the Alumni Association, and

represents perhaps the other end of the spectrum of continuing education

programs. In this an individual would attend an institution for a rather

short time, a few days to a week, and would subsequently complete his

own education in his own time at home. While he would have access to

libraries and other facilities in his vicinity orin university, and might,

of his own volition, interact with faculty or students, his program of learning

would be self directed. Evaluation of his performance, for courses taken

for credit, would be done at his request and standards of performance

would be maintained by requiring examinations, written and oral, at

least as searching as in the general university program. Such a program

has not, to our knowledge, been initiated at any university and perhaps

Simon Fraser with its reputation for innovation should consider the

merits of such a program.

It is quite clear that it would be impossible to move from the

present system of almost zero formal participation in continuing education

programs under an S. F. U. administrative unit to complete implementation of

all the possibilities set out in this paper, which may not even be a

to

comprehensive list. Rather it would seem appropriate to utilize the

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excess capacity of the University during the late afternoon and

evening to provide extended offerings for students. Simultaneously

it might be appropriate for an investigation of the viabilities of other

programs to take place with a view to implementing those which would

reflect credit on Simon Fraser University without compromising its

standards of performance.

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