SIAST Announces Plan To Boost Aboriginal Enrolment

SIAST Announces Plan To Boost Aboriginal Enrolment

Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 13:06

 

 

SIAST is embarking on an ambitious five-year plan to increase Aboriginal student participation and success at its campuses around the province.

 

The Aboriginal Student Achievement Plan, or ASAP, consists of 21 actions developed over eight months of consultation with education counsellors on reserve, students, and other stakeholders.

 

ASAP co-chair Myrna Yuzicappi says one of the steps is promoting SIAST as a good post-secondary option to Aboriginal students living on-reserve.

 

Yuzicappi says SIAST graduates have an employment rate that hovers in the 90 per cent range.

 

She also says SIAST offers a shorter road to being employed, as students can be employment-ready in two years or less — unlike a university education, which usually takes at least four years, “and then there’s no guarantee of employment”.

 

Yuzicappi says SIAST has more Aboriginal students than any other post-secondary institution in the province, with nearly 2,500.

 

She hopes the plan will build on that.

 

The strategy is expected to cost $5.5 million, which SIAST hopes to get from government and the private sector through fundraising.