By Roman Hayter:
Northlands College has rolled out its new organizational structure for 2023 that focuses on learning and access.
The new organizational structure, deemed the “2023 Year of Transformation,” was informed by recommendations from the college’s fall 2022 operational review.
The review, which was completed by an external third party, highlighted the college’s 57 percent enrollment decline since 2011.
The review also highlighted issues in stakeholder engagement, human resources, college processes, strategy, and infrastructure planning.
Northlands College President and CEO Karsten Henriksen said that one of the main findings of the Fall 2020 overview was the sense of staff members feeling dis-empowered.
“One of the key findings of the operations and organizational structure review was the sense of our staff members feeling dis-empowered, meaning that they didn’t feel that it was within their roles or responsibilities to make decisions in the best interest of our communities,” said Henriksen. “That direction is no longer our direction; we are moving forward, growing and empowering our people, and investing in and growing with them so they can meet the needs of all community members.”
Henriksen also spoke about the college’s intentions to take a whole-of-the-North approach.
“We are taking a whole-of-the-Northern Saskatchewan approach; as I’ve told our faculty and staff, we are not La Ronge College, but we will continue to grow and invest in La Ronge; we are Northlands College, and we serve all of the people of northern Saskatchewan, which means all of our communities and all of our industry partners,” he said.
The college has also announced the creation of the Director, Health & Wellness Portfolio, which will lead programs in Nursing and Dental Therapy and work to introduce new programming in Addictions Recovery and Healing, Early Childhood Education, and Long-Term Care.
The college will also be consolidating the leadership of Trades & Technology, including the Mine School, under the Director, Trades & Technology portfolio.
In addition to expanding access to mine training, the portfolio will oversee environmental management program planning. The college also announced that the Director of Trades and Technology post will be at the college’s Buffalo Narrows Campus.
The college is also creating the portfolio of the director of flexible learning.
The position will oversee the creation and implementation of a new adult basic education model based on adult education principles and labor market paths, while also recognizing indigenous knowledge.
The Director of Flexible Learning will also spearhead the launch of the Northlands College Learning Hub, which will house the Centre for Northern Post-Secondary Teaching and Innovation, as well as Capable North, which will develop and deliver work-integrated learning, industry-co-branded certificates and micro-credentials, general interest programming, and summer camps in science, technology, engineering, and math.