Copy of A graduate problem, with an education solution
- Kicker
- Jun 21, 2019
- 6 min read
N.L. is facing the challenge of ensuring young people are trained for the changing job market
Editor's note: A previous version of this story identified Sean Cadigan as the vice-president of academics at Memorial University. Dr. Cadigan is associate vice-president (academic). He was speaking to Kicker in his capacity as a history professor.
Also, the article suggested Dr. Cadigan's research found "the influx of oil revenue into the local economy didn't create job growth in other industries such as the service industry." Dr. Cadigan made exactly the opposite point. He said his research indicated "oil and gas development had its most significant impact on job creation in the service sector." Kicker apologizes to Dr. Cadigan and Memorial University for the errors.
Amy Cleary Kicker
High-school students are leaving the province because the post-secondary programs that they are interested in are not offered on the island.
“I want to do forensic science,” said Brittney Roebotham, a graduate from Holy Heart of Mary High School in St. John’s. “I’m only able to do it in Halifax though.”
The programs offered to students entering post-secondary were, in the past, focused on the economy. Now, some people believe this path has created minimal diversification throughout programs offered in the province.
“To be sure, the oil and gas sector is important but how important should it be because how many people are going to be employed there?” said Sean Cadigan, a history professor at Memorial University.
Cadigan studied how oil revenues affect a local economy, specifically in Newfoundland and Labrador, in a research study called Boom, Bust, and Bluster.
Cadigan explained the oil industry is important but the industry only employees a small number of people.
“Most people are employed in the service sector,” said Cadigan. “Then there's the direct employment in offshore oil and gas, which provides high-paid work but in a small proportion except when we have a big new project.”
Memorial University
Jennifer White, the manager of the university’s domestic student recruitment has one word to describe Memorial University.
“I think the word that I hear most often when we talk about Memorial University is that it’s a comprehensive university,” said Jennifer White, manager of the university’s domestic student recruitment.
White continued to explain that graduate programs are broken up into different categories – and it seems that the social sciences graduate program isn’t as popular as it once was.
According to her, for at least the past five years, high school students have been trending away from social sciences.
“It use be about 15 per cent of the student population,” said White. “Now it’s less than that.”
She says students are leaning towards other academic pursuits.
“Students are trending more towards science, technology, engineering, and we've seen an increase in our business programs,” said White.
Even with the increase in the number of students, Memorial University isn’t worried according to Jennifer White.
“As changes like this are typically gradual, it is not difficult for academic units to respond to the changes in students’ interests over time and find capacity in their course offerings to allow for these changes,” said White.
White continued to explain via email Memorial University anticipates and accepts student trends.
“There have always been shifts and changes in the non-competitive programs that do not necessarily have a cap on the number of students they can accept into their programs,” said White. “The development of new areas of study (i.e. Ocean Sciences) or new course offerings within certain majors (such as in an ever-adapting discipline as Computer Science) can be seen as research progresses and new faculty are brought in to keep content current in our academic areas throughout the university.”
According to White, Memorial understands that Newfoundland’s economy constantly changes.
“Universities are built to adapt gradually when necessary to [meet] the needs in the workforce,” said White.
College of the North Atlantic
The College of the North Atlantic and Memorial University view the economic trends and the student body through the same lens according to Trudy Barnes, vice president of the department of partnerships, innovation and enterprise at College of the North Atlantic.
“What does your industry need or what does your company need or what does your community need?” asked Barnes.
The college determines programs based on the Newfoundland economy, according to Barnes.
“We look at what are the trends in the different economic development opportunities are in the province,” said Barnes.
Barnes continues to explain that once the college identifies a sector like mining, then an academic advisory committee is then made up of industry members. These members are then consulted regularly on any major changes that need to happen, and if a new program needs to be introduced.
“Then in my department, we look right across the province economically what should we be doing,” said Barnes. “We’re meeting with industry to say what kind of upgrading do you need in your industry for your company or what is your industry need or what does your community need.”
Barnes then explained that a new program, related to mining was introduced to The College curriculum.
“So we just introduced a geological technician program in Grand Falls to address some mining needs,” said Barnes.
Then, Barnes explained that another program that had been around in the college curriculum for a period time needed a face-lift.
“Programmer Analyst for example is a programming program that's been around for a long time and that's going to be revised,” said Barnes.
Barnes then explained that some programs are needed for industry, but the students are unaware that industry needs qualified workers in those fields.
“Big demand right now for sheet metal but we're not getting the student demand. So we need to then market that [program] to get the demand to meet the needs of that industry,” said Barnes.
Barnes then explained that students don’t always know where Newfoundland’s economy is going, and the college takes the responsibility of making sure that they are offering jobs that can be found in the job market.
“So sometimes students don't always know where the jobs are,” said Barnes. “So it's up to us to then market those programs but if there's no jobs and there's no students, well that's not the program we need to be offering or we need to look at another program.”
Changes and challenges
The programs offered to students entering post-secondary were, in the past, focused on the economy. A document called Change and Challenge was prepared by the Liberal government of Clyde Wells in 1992.
The document proposed that Newfoundland’s post-secondary education system and the economy should work together and adapt to each other’s needs.
Newfoundland’s original economy was based on the cod fishery that began around the 15th century.
Almost 500 years after John Cabot voyaged to Newfoundland, the Canadian government suspended the cod fishery on July 2, 1992, due to decades of overfishing. The government’s reasoning was to give the cod fish time to rebuild. The moratorium put 30,000 Newfoundlanders out of work overnight. Fish plants across the province were dragged back to shore; fish plants were shut down.
After the cod moratorium, the basis of Newfoundland’s economy shifted from the cod fishery to the oil and gas industry. A group of oil workers discovered the first commercial oilfield in Newfoundland and Labrador in 1979 after 13 years of exploratory drilling along the Grand Banks.
From 1997 to 2007, the Hibernia, Terra Nova and White Rose oil fields produced 867 million barrels of crude oil, estimated to be worth about $46 billion. This new industry accounted for a large percentage of the provincial GDP - 35 per cent in 2007.
The industry also employed a lot of Newfoundlanders. In 2007, 2,851 workers were directly employed in the oil and gas industry.
The oil and gas sector even created numerous spin-off jobs including architecture and technology jobs. In 2007, those unrelated fields employed 3.8 per cent of the provincial workforce.
But as the prices of oil and gas fluctuate, and the digitization of the industry requires fewer and fewer workers to operate the systems involved, some students want the educational system to further reflect that change.
Brittney Hendrigan, 18, of Paradise wishes things were different here in Newfoundland when it comes to educational opportunities. The Holy Heart grad intends to go to Memorial but still hasn’t decided on a major.
“I guess I wish we had more options here like veterinarian so that people wouldn’t have to move away.”
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