October SAIT Open House
Well once again the October SAIT Open House seemed to be another land mark success. Kudos to all instructional staff who volunteered their off-duty time on Saturday October 25 to support their Schools and promote their Professions/Trades through learner engagement and community awareness.
The opening of the application system by Registration a week and half prior to the Open House proved to be an advantage in securing early registration for many of SAIT programs. Applications for 2014/15 hit 7,181, well over the thousand mark from 2013/2014 of 5,791. Increased application are always a welcomed indicators for fuller classrooms and secured instructional positions. However, with the increased enrollment many of the applicants are selecting programs in the STEM (Science, Technical, Engineering and Math) sectors of the institution. This raises a concern regarding Retentions rates within these programs.
Historically programs can lose up to 5% of their enrollment very early in the semester. To offset the drop in numbers many programs have been oversubscribed which is at the discretion of the Dean of the Department, with the approval of the Vice President Academics and in consultation with the office of the Registrar (Procedure AC.1.5.1).
Although instructors are comfortable with a full complement of students in their classes, the frustration arises when class numbers exceed the maximum on the class roster and moreover, where labs /classes are furnished with equipment for the maximum amount of students. With the addition of 2-3 students over the maximum number, some labs /classes do not have the surplus equipment to provide for the additional 2-3 students. In many cases the labs are designed only for the maximum number of students. Space and safety for the implementing of make-up equipment now becomes a concern and a distraction, making the managing of the class most vexing.
The ‘Drop-Add Period’ would be a useful tool in managing the inconsistencies with overloaded classes. As the number of applications into the Institution continue to increase – which I believe will most certainly happen when we begin to increase the number of foreign students into our programs – the realignment and re design of existing labs /classes will be come inevitable and necessary. If we do not adopt a pro-active attitude towards these concerns we will run the risk of having dissatisfied and under trained students and their migration to other institutions will be damaging.
James McWilliams
SAFA President