North West College will offer a combined online and in-person instruction method for the 2020-21 school year. (file photo/battlefordsNOW staff) 

By Angela Brown

Support for education

North West College plans “blended” learning, tuition freeze for 2020-21 school year

Jul 20, 2020 | 3:10 PM

North West College, with campuses in North Battleford and Meadow Lake, will provide students with what is described as a “blended” learning format for the 2020-21 school year, with a combination of in-person and online classes, as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The college also plans a tuition freeze to lessen the financial impact for students.

“All businesses including North West College have been watching the COVID situation closely,” President and CEO Jay Notay said.

He explained the college has been working with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Advanced Education, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the provincial executive council on the issue.

“One of the first things we have been doing is working off of a frame-work that the two ministries as well as the executive council have put together for all post-secondary institutions in Saskatchewan to follow,” Notay said, adding that this has been the college’s priority.

Keeping that in mind, he said all the college’s programs will be delivered in some form of blended delivery format – providing a combination of online and in-person classroom instruction.

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“In the past the majority of our programs have been face-to-face, or some components of distance education or video conferencing,” Notay said. “Now every program will have a blended component.”

As part of developing safety protocols, the college will follow the public health orders and maintain social distancing rules between individuals within classrooms.

The college will also make sure to keep track of the flow of activity on the campuses at any point in time.

“Even though we are in phase 4 of the [Saskatchewan] re-open plan, the province is still in a state of emergency,” Notay said. “So we are taking all of these precautions very seriously. We want to ensure when students and staff come back on campus, they are confident that we have done everything possible to make things safe for them.”

As well, North West College, has imposed a tuition freeze for the new school year.

Notay said its partners, Saskatchewan Polytechnic, University of Saskatchewan and University of Regina share some of the same programs with the college. Since these partner institutions have implemented tuition freezes, North West College will also keep its fees as the status quo.

“So tuition for this coming year, ’20-’21, it is frozen,” Notay said. “We will revisit that as things progress with COVID.”

Notay is also encouraging students to apply for North West College’s many scholarships to reduce their financial challenges. Details on application deadlines are available on the college’s website. In total the college awarded over $115,000 in scholarships to students in the 2019-20 school year.

Notay said federal and provincial funding is also available to help students dealing with the impact of COVID-19.

He added the college continues to stay abreast of the COVID-19 situation in planning its program delivery. Notay said the college wants to ensure students’ achieve academic success, while also following all COVID-19 regulations and precautions.

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW