Capital: Post-secondary schools propel region’s knowledge-based economy – Times Colonist

In the final days of the 2017 election campaign, post-secondary education is top of mind for three MLAs from the three main political parties who are all seeking re-election.

Green Andrew Weaver, New Democrat Carole James and Liberal Andrew Wilkinson all stress the importance of the sector as an economic driver.

Weaver says that at the height of his career at the University of Victoria, he was more than a teacher, he was an employer.

I had 20 people working in my lab, said Weaver, once part of UVics School of Earth and Ocean Sciences and still considered a faculty member.

The MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head which includes UVic said that the salaries and budgets for those research workers were largely paid with money he attracted from outside Victoria.

Weaver said research grants from the federal government were often matched by the province. There was also money from international agencies, and by private industry, Canadian and international.

Weavers experience, he said, was replicated with researchers and scholars throughout the university.

Not every faculty member is going to invent a widget that everyone is going to want to buy, said Weaver. But the collective emphasis on research at the faculty level has a profound impact.

Greater Victoria is enriched by the presence of UVic, Camosun College and Royal Roads University in ways far beyond their direct local spending. Post-secondary institutions create and sustain a dynamism thats a perfect backstop to the 21st-Century knowledge-based economy.

Advanced Education Minister Andrew Wilkinson, the MLA for Vancouver-Quilchena, said its only been in the past 20 years that universities and colleges have been widely recognized as enormous community assets.

You get the student vitality, but you also get all the collateral attractions, said Wilkinson.

He said B.C. can claim 25 public universities and colleges, and all of them are competing with the best in Canada and around the world.

They are all major institutions in their respective communities, said Wilkinson. People love to host them, they love to attend them, they love to teach at them.

Universities and colleges are now recognized as major sources of cultural and economic well being, he said.

Victoria-Beacon Hill MLA Carole James said Greater Victoria also benefits from Camosun College and Royal Roads University, both filling roles in the local knowledge-based economy.

Beyond training skilled tradespeople, she said, Camosun provides contract research for companies needing problems fixed, or products or services tested.

With the Camosun Innovates program, businesses can get help from college labs, equipment and practice space. Students and instructors will work on a specific problem.

Thats a huge resource for the businesses in our community, said James, a former chairwoman of the Greater Victoria School District.

At one time, students would take university courses at college, then transfer to universities, but the movement today goes both ways.

But now, UVic students are moving to Camosun for its five degrees in business and health studies, or for practical certificates. The college says 18 per cent of its students have bachelor or even graduate degrees.

We have very practical research going on right now that is a helping businesses to succeed beyond expectations, James said. That wouldnt happen without the synergy of universities and colleges here.

James also said universities and colleges help make communities grow. People from Victoria will train for lives in Victoria, and those from outside get a sample of the Victoria experience and decide to stay.

People are just more likely to stay in a community if they were educated and trained in that community, she said.

Tony Eder, UVics executive director for resource planning, was a co-author of 2012 study that determined UVic, with its salaries, maintenance and new construction, resulted in salaries of about $584 million.

But the total economic impact money generated in the surrounding community was $3.1 billion. Today, Eder estimates UVics economic impact would exceed $4 billion.

Eder said similar benefits occur wherever universities locate.

Its such a treasure for any community to have an organization like a research institution, he said. The research that happens will lead to innovations that build economic activity in the community, the province.

Terry Cockerline, UVics director of alumni relations, said graduates regularly say they would like to stay in Victoria. Students fall in love with this place.

About 30 per cent of the students at UVic are local, and Cockerline said 30,000 of UVics 115,000 alumni are listed as living here.

He said UVic alumni are proving themselves to be solid community members. He said UVic attracts some of the best students in the world, and its graduates are people who are generally committed to giving back and contributing.

They are running not-for-profits, engaged in private enterprise, lots of entrepreneurship, government, health care. Virtually every sector of the local economy has a UVic connection, said Cockerline.

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Capital: Post-secondary schools propel region's knowledge-based economy - Times Colonist