Nunavut University

It doesn't look feasible to have a stand-alone university for Nunavut but a partnership is likely.

Nunavut can't build its own university, but it can partner up to grant degrees - North - CBC News

 

Overall, I like the plan. I notice First Nations University http://fnuniv.ca is on the proposed partners' list. Sounds logical, since both institutions will serve indigenous peoples, but is First Nations U. ready? The school has not been without its own controversy. Dealt with here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Nations_University_of_Canada

J.

 

I am a resident of Nunavut. High School graduation is less than 50% that should be the priority. It is the perfect place for a virtual university but it is not going to happen. Nunavut is over 20% of Canada with 3 time zones.

 

Maybe they can partner with Northland Open University.

 

Funny - sorta. Northland Open was a Canadian school that was never authorized to award degrees. I hesitate to call it a mill, because it actually taught courses etc. Back in the 70s-early 80s, ICS Canada was offering Northland Open degree courses, IIRC.

I haven't seen a Northland Open ad for around 30 years, but the corporation has only recently (2015) been dissolved.

https://www.ic.gc.ca/app/scr/cc/CorporationsCanada/fdrlCrpDtls.html?corpId=0158402

The NOU founder, Dr. George Korey, died in 2007. His bio here: http://www.federacjapolek.ca/nowy/image/2009_images/polish_spirit_persons/korey-krzeczowski.pdf

J.

 

Any place is perfect for a virtual (online) university. Even if nothing happens in Nunavut, I guess those wanting to pursue university study will still have their choice of many online programs at Canadian Universities - or good schools in the US or abroad, for that matter.

Really, I suppose it comes down to a pride thing, wanting one in Nunavut itself - not that pride is a bad thing, in this situation. Unfortunately, the numbers just don't look feasible. I agree totally on your point about high school priority.

J.

 

I still think that's right, although Dr. Korey's umbrella organization, the Canadian School of Management, was DETC-accredited at one (or possibly two) time(s.)

Here's an old DI thread - with 'way more info on Northland Open U. than I ever had. http://www.degreeinfo.com/accreditation-discussions-ra-detc-state-approval-unaccredited-schools/13952-comes-now-canadian-school-management-institute-iowa-hawaii-manitoba.html

BTW - one thing that was never in dispute: Dr. Korey himself was the genuine article - a highly-qualified academic, who taught at well-reputed schools and was respected for his background and his accomplishments.

J.

 

Awww, c'mon. It was pretty funny.

NOU was in a territory and the laws were a little vague regarding whether or not it could award degrees. It's safe to say, however, that such degrees would not normally meet the standard of being considered equivalent to degrees awarded by accredited schools.

Korey, on the other hand, was a handful. His CSM didn't award degrees (they couldn't, by law), so they awarded certificates that were good for NOU degrees. Not cool. He also had a hand in the whole IMC thingy, where three DETC-accredited schools, including one that wasn't recognized to award degrees in its home (the UK) lost their accreditation on the same day. Ka-boom.

 

it's no skin off my nose, Rich - but some might be offended by the notion (even in jest) that the largely indigenous population of Nunavut is best-served by partnering up with an outfit that never had degree-granting authority. It's kind of like saying that rural Nigeria's students might do well to enrol in Pebble Hills U. That's why I wrote "funny - sorta."

Indeed. But he was also a genuine educator. Come to think of it, he served on the Board of Trustees at your alma mater - Union. :smile:

J.

 

I don't recall saying they'd be best served by it--or even served by it at all. That's a strawman.

Also, since the thing doesn't operate anymore, it's hard to imagine it being taken even one little bit seriously.

Finally, what does this qualifier have to do with anything: "the largely indigenous population..." Wouldn't such consternation--if actually necessary--apply to any population? Do they need to be singled out for special sensitivity? I hope not.

 

True. Here's what you said, exactly:

I guess maybe I read into it something you didn't intend. Sorry. I hope others don't misread it as I did.

I think First Nations people have every right to be sensitive, as I believe they are - and I respect that sensitivity, which is perhaps no more or less pronounced than in several other minorities. They've earned that right the hard way.

Here's the same thing - recast slightly, to involve a whole nation, rather than a minority:
Re: DL in Mexico: "Maybe they can partner with MIGS." Think that might set off some dissent?

J.

 

Nunavut may be the only jurisdiction in North America where the majority of people do not speak a European language. The official language is Inuktitut along with Canada's two official languages of French and English. Inuit have some special considerations in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom. For example, in Nunavut the most qualify person does not necessary get the job, preference is given to Inuit and it is not considered discrimination.

 

That may well be. I thought maybe a Maya- or Nahua-speaking area in Mexico might qualify, but I found no concentration of unilingual (no Spanish) speakers greater than 25%.

Interestingly, Mexican indigenous language speakers are keeping up with the times, entertainment-wise. The first telenovela (soap opera) in Maya is now on TV. It's called Baktun. The word means a period of 144,000 days in the Maya calendar. "Days of our Lives, 2.0?"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baktun_(telenovela)

J.

 

Really? That old chestnut? My goodness, I certainly hope people would read such as an unambiguous joke. (I know I'd chuckle, even though it's a pretty worn-out notion these 16 years later.)

 

Even though it clearly is. Perhaps, as a form of affirmative action, it is necessary discrimination. But discrimination it is, plain and simple.

 

My favorite thing about Nunavut (besides the polar-bear-shaped license plate) is the folk dance we do called Camels in Nunavut, by the Nunavut group called Night Sun, which bills itself as a celtic klezmer inuit band. It was Nunavut's entry in the International Womens Day song competition a few years ago, and the title was believed to be a joke. And then a couple of years later, archaeologists at Western Ontario announced the discovery of the oldest-known camel fossils, found in Nunavut. I contacted the Night Sun band to ask, and they insist they just made up the camel thing as a joke after some beers one night . . . but I wonder if there was some ancient legend floating around that tapped some deep memories. Or something. Excellent song, anyway, sung in Inuktitut.

 

Nunavut already has a community college - Nunavut Arctic College.

A brief overview of Nunavut Arctic College

It's an interesting place, a college that tries to serve a very challenging frontier environment. There are several campuses in widely separated locations and 25 'learning centers' in most Nunavut settlements, some apparently with a small staff probably seconded from a local primary school, that can provide testing and counseling. That suggests that DL of some sort is already well established there.

And notably, Nunavut Arctic College already offers two bachelors degree programs, in Education in association with the U. of Regina, and in Nursing in association with Dalhousie.

I guess the OP is saying that given Canada's rather restrictive policy on deciding which institutions can award their own degrees, Nunavut Arctic College is most likely to pursue a plan of expanding those joint-degree offerings, rather than seeking approvals to award its own degrees.

 

According to Wikipedia, the 2010 census counted 173,667 people in the Navajo Indian Reservation of whom 109,963 speak a non-European language at home. (I think that most of them are bilingual Navajo/English.)

What is the language of instruction at Nunavut Arctic College? If many of the classes are taught in Inuktitut, that will be a limiter on the college's growth right there. How many people in the rest of Canada who have suitable academic credentials are fluent enough in that language to able to teach in it?

 

There are many reserves n Canada similar to Resevations in the USA. Nunavut is not a Reservation. Nunavut has a Primier, the equivalent to a Governor in the USA. There are 25 mayors.