The POST recently asked the college president several poignant questions regarding the college and its future. The face of Portage College faced the questions candidly.
Dr. Keough: Portage College is seeing a shift in its user demand. We are addressing a year-over-year decline in the numbers of up grading students by strengthening ac cess to existing programs and adding new ones to the suite.
We are a vibrant and ever-strengthening organization de mon strating some flexi bility, innovation and responsiveness in times of tremendous uncertainty. We are in a seminal time wherein we are charting our course for the next 50 years. There is hope, expectation as well as fear and anxiety.
POST: How bad is it?
Dr. Keough: Academic Up grading has been on my concern radar since my arrival in 2006. As early as 2006 it was evident to me that we were in a crisis that was not being recognized as a true bell ringer by some faculty and certain management.
There was some evidence of internal denial that a program so crucial to our institutional identity could/would be so intentionally eroded by unending funding cuts. It appeared as if we simply couldn't accept what was occurring.
There was hope that the cuts would eventually stop, and year after year no indication that they would. When seeing that kind of decrease, you have to plan to hit the proverbial wall. I believe that crash is occurring now and collateral fallout will continue into the into the coming year or two. Afterwards we will establish a new benchmark for enrolments in ACE (Academics for Careers and Education) that will have sustainability for a possible 3-5 years duration. Thereafter will occur another crisis brought about by Outreach Schools tuning their offerings.
POST: What are some of the stragegies being used to 'turn it around'?
Dr. Keough: At Portage our leadership recog nized that while we fought to enlighten funders of the need to support upgrading we also needed to instigate program diversification. And, program diver sifi cation, renewal and strengthening has to continue if we are to maintain long-term in stitutional viability.
In 2006 as little as 60K per annum was being invested in new programs or renewal of strong programs. In the flush budgets leading up to three years ago, we engaged in a diversification plan, and made financial commitment to design, development and re new. We spent on average 800K for some three-years running. Dividends are being paid. Establishing a foothold for a strong suite of non-upgrading programming, which is solid in itself, is moving forward.
Rapid change in programming isn't pos sible as effect iveness and credibility and market confidence needs building.
POST: How much of a fight has been made to save funding and programs.
Dr. Keough: Programs that were not and are not performing had/have to be transitioned out by necessity. Our budget was once closer to 30 million than the current 20.9. We have lost a lot. We have been lobbying government and speaking to decision-makers about the upgrading crisis for some seven years.
We offer warnings of impacts of policy change and express concerns over the un-met need, but the march towards destruction continues.
We met with the Deputy Premier prior to budget stating that a 7.3% cut to the college would be compounded if Alberta Human Services was also hit. We were expecting up to 30% decline. Through lobby and good collaboration the hit was reduced, but the impact continues.
POST: How will Upgrading and Adult education be affected?
Dr. Keough: We budgeted for yet another 100 ACE students to be lost to us this year. We are on target with acceptances based on that budget;, in fact, (Adult Basic Education) ABE/ACE acceptances are up in LLB by 100%. Sounds great, but the reality is we budgeted based on historical downward trends. Even when up, we are down! We do, however, live and die on budget, so we win a little by being effective managers of what we have ... Last year we had 240 students sponsored by AHS; this year we have only 150. Next near AHS will continue to fund ABE but not certificates. It stopped funding diplomas some time ago ... ACE/ABE services will continue, but there is high probability that it will be a marginal business for us into the future. That's a radical shift in our institutional identity but not one that wasn't seen coming. Hence the need to diversity programming and cur tail dependency on ACE enrolments in their traditional forms. Across the country ABE programs are being cut or eliminated entirely from the public sector.
There a national trend here, and it is not a pleasant one. So, we will offer ABE, but we can no longer rely on it as core business. ACE has been marginalized and eroded by external funders.
Dr. Keough: Fall enrolments for LLB are not finalized. Here's what we know are at full or near acceptance capacity: BA certificate; Diplo ma year doubled acceptances over last; OA and AT acceptance at target capacity; Social work, acceptance over tar gets; University Studies acceptances, down over last year by about 20% and could be 30%: EMR scheduled for October, short course, not seeing strong numbers changes imminent at ACP; PN on target to reach enrolment target at over capacity; EMT and paramedic full; PE full; Culinary Arts on target to capacity; EA/ELCC strong.
We have issued about 100 acceptance letters over last year's Semester 1 for the college as a whole. We have new to LLB: PN and Heavy Equipment Tech.
So, despite rumors of decline, we are not, at least not by acceptance and application measure ments available to us at this time, in jeopardy, neither in LLB nor elsewhere. Results over the next three weeks will paint the reality.
POST: How will the layoffs affect Portage?
Dr. Keough: As to HR issues or perceptions of them, including the public's wanting to know why a particular person voluntary leaves, re signs, or is asked to leave rather than being fired, or is fired, I can make no comment as labor law prohibits my commentary as well as respect for individual rights to privacy. Here's what I can say ... The recent restructure of the executive chart of the college was not precipitated by any internal crisis or interpersonal conflict.
We have re grettably seen three years of layoffs, and LLB has been hit hard. These decisions were forced upon us, they were not voluntary. I can tell you from personal experience it's not a good feeling to be out in the community and have former colleagues unwilling to make eye contact or let alone speak with you. This is a reality of living in a small town. I have to own that reality even though it personally grieves me.
POST: What about the 'optics' of the changes?
Dr. Keough: The hurt felt by those let go from the college also generates lots of negative energy manifested as gossip and innuendo. Here is the reality as I see it:
There is anger outside the college in LLB and there is fear within the LLB campus. People let go here don't disappear into a nameless, faceless crowd. People feel wounded and hurt by decisions for which I have ultimate authority.
Losing a job is made even worse for some people. How would you feel if your program was downsized rather than cancelled, and you were let go? There is a question, why did you pick me, and not some other person?
Oftentimes com pounding the sense of being looked over and disrespected by lay-off is thwarted sense of entitlement. You could have kept me employed, but choose not to! Yes, there was definitely a time when positions were held over if the original work load disappeared. It's a fact that individuals were warehoused at Portage and given make-work projects because termination was unpalatable to their managers. No one wanted to be the bad guy! We lack the budget to create make-work projects and that managerial behavior is not acceptable in government or business. Still, it remains true that people are angry that they weren't assigned make-work as others once historically were.
Dr. Keough: The act of con stant cutting of the budget and its cor responding layoffs is wearing on everyone, from faculty to support staff to administration, to myself and the executive team.
There's survivor's re morse here, too. Even worse, there is further tremendous uncertainty coming to us. What is government going to do when it opens the Act? Will we continue to exist as a college? The entire PSE system is unstable and has been brutalized by layoffs.
People with jobs are fearful of losing them. When the PSE system contracts, and it inevitably will, where will people get employment? Many will be forced to leave their professions forever. The negative possibilities can make a healthy person sick at heart. Still, I can tell people not to worry. Portage will continue to serve as we are deeply connected with our communities. We remain relative, efficient, and willing to respond as we have been historically. Yes, we will be forced (as we have willfully adapted) to adapt and change. We are nimble. I can advise them to focus on what we can control as opposed to what we cannot. I can tell my colleagues for certain that we accrue 20.9 million dollars to work with this year. There are no surprise layoffs to come. At the zero percent increase forecasted for 2014-15 we will not see closures like last. We have about 265 salaried and contracted employees; of this group there are 203 associated with LLB. There a lot of people here and the uncertainty is itself a stressor. We can only work with today and tomorrow and the week ahead. Worrying about what might occur next spring is not helping. But people do, and I do, too.
POST: What can help?
Dr. Keough: We need to be doing a better job in communicating positive things occurring for sure.
POST: Can you explain the discontinuation of the cooking programs at Lac La Biche's campus?
Dr. Keough: Culinary Arts Certificate will be discontinued as a program after this year. Four years ago the program came up for suspension for its inability to produce sufficient numbers of graduates, and the graduates could not consistently or successfully complete provincial AIT exams. There was no improvement in the interim period. By all measures we had slowly migrated away from our traditional success. CA, on average, graduated 9 students per annum, and cost the institution about 230-260,000 per year to deliver. This last year's offering is reduced in cost significantly. Some program adjustments will be made, too. The program hit two performance expectation walls: by consistently graduating 40% or less of its students it failed to meet the minimum target of an 85% graduation rate, and secondly programs with 15 students or less were slated for closure. Facing these challenges, we undertook a program comparison with other institutions and a review of employer expectations and then asked what we could do to rejuvenate the program. The program had marginal currency, and while successful students can still get jobs, we were forced to recognize that there is a better way. Running the program in a commercial kitchen driven by the need to turn a net profit is also an ongoing issue; the program absolutely needs a full teaching kitchen. Hence there are major infrastructure problems. Three years ago we identified the need for a centre of specialization in food. The St. Paul project eventually came into fruition. So, as of September 2014, there will only be a diploma offering in Culinary Arts at the St. Paul location. It will be linked directly with Journey person cook certification as well. St. Paul will have a full teaching kitchen; equipment alone is at estimated at 800K. We have a new program, already authorized by the GOA, called Institutional Cook, which effectively replaces the existing certificate, with some curriculum modifications. Should there be demand in LLB, it is possible to launch this program in a commercial kitchen with sufficient volumes. If St. Paul wasn't coming on line, we would have cancelled the existing LLB program three years ago, and most certainly this past spring. We are expectant that like the LPN program that moved to Cold Lake, the centre will move programming outward. I hope there is only a hiatus of cooking programming in LLB and other opportunities will emerge. There are no Bistro Nights into the coming year as that initiative was removed as cost-centre in the spring budget. We are hopeful such events can occur again but the time of relaunch is indeterminate.
As to former Chairman Ward's comments to the Post on the Culinary Arts program and Bistros continuing I can only say that it was an unintended and unfortunate error in communication.
