ATHABASCA – As Athabasca University continues to grow, so does its commitment to the Athabasca area.
That’s the message university president Neil Fassina had for Athabasca County councillors June 9, as he provided an update on how the post-secondary online learning institution is navigating the challenges of teaching during a pandemic and the current state of the economy.
Fassina was joined in the meeting by his chief of staff Gilbert Perras and associate vice president of marketing and communications Carole Stevenson-Roy, who all attended via Zoom.
The university’s goal of transforming its digital presence and learning framework is ongoing, said Fassina, although challenges have arisen with the pandemic and subsequent lockdown.
“Needless to say, while those things do progress, having to respond to a global health crisis has clearly put a pause, or at least a delay, in a number of our initiatives,” he said.
All of the university’s digital assets have been transferred to a cloud-based environment which allows for that information to be accessible around the world.
Changing the learning framework to focus more on individual students’ learning goals has also been a priority, said Fassina.
“It’s very much a learner-centric environment. In order to achieve that, we needed to embed a new learning environment — in essence, the technology that would allow that to happen,” said Fassina.
“Between that new digital campus, if you will, and this renewed learning environment, it will allow for the university to achieve a number of its goals with respect to create universal access to any Albertan, any Canadian, and frankly, any global citizen that has a passion to learn.”
Reeve Larry Armfelt thanked Fassina for the presentation, saying council supported those goals, but he was interested in the long-term employment prospects for locals.
Fassina responded that AU has every intention of staying and growing the institution within the community.
“I’ve stated before that our commitment is there. We continue to develop those employment opportunities within the community,” he said, but added there are large-scale challenges they are facing, namely accessibility and connectivity.
The pandemic created an emergency situation where education had to be delivered online, so physical institutions had to adjust, and they still are. AU however, has been delivering quality education at a distance for years.
“AU is in its niche,” said Fassina, adding that bodes well for future growth and employment opportunities.
Since March, when the pandemic took hold, the university saw double digit growth year-over-year. April saw seven per cent growth and in May, 10 per cent,” said Fassina.
“AU is growing. That means we inevitably have to bring team members on. So while every other stick and brick institution in North America is wondering whether they are going to meet their enrolment targets for the fall, we’re struggling with how to grow faster than we have in the past.”
The university can’t do it alone though and needs willing partners in the town and county to facilitate that growth, which everyone will benefit from in the long-term, said Fassina.
Reeve Armfelt said Fassina was making perfect sense, and reiterated the county’s willingness to be that partner.
“I really like the fact you’re telling us that you’re willing to stay here and work here, but you need us and our commitment to help you along,” he said. “I think that I can absolutely guarantee that you have that support from Athabasca County.”
Chris Zwick,TownandCountryToday.com
