Northern British Columbia covers, well, northern BC. It stretches from Prince George in the interior to Prince Rupert, Terrace and Kitimat on the coast, the islands of Haida Gwaii, and the north-eastern cities of Dawson Creek, Fort St. John and Fort Nelson.
Universities
There is one university covering the whole of this area:
University of Northern British Columbia
Established in 1990, UNBC is located in Prince George but also has regional campuses in Prince Rupert, Terrace, Quesnel, and Fort St. John. It has just over 4,000 students.
UNBC is part of a province-wide MD program distributed into four geographically distinct sites across British Columbia, that includes the University of British Columbia, the University of Victoria, UNBC and local teaching hospitals. It is a distributed learning program using a mix of on-campus and distance delivery between the four provincial sites. This province-wide approach is made possible through a robust information technology system that allows instructors and students in many disparate locations to interact simultaneously. The Distributed MD undergraduate program aims to increase the number of rural and Indigenous students seeking medical careers, with the goal of increasing the number of qualified medical professionals in rural and indigenous communities. Students receive accredited qualifications from the University of British Columbia.
Colleges
CNC, established in 1969, operates six campuses in Prince George, Burns Lake, Fort St. James, Mackenzie, Quesnel and Vanderhoof, with approximately 5,000 students per year.
Formerly known as Northwest Community College (NWCC), established in 1975, Coast Mountain College is a post-secondary educational institution that serves the residents of northwest British Columbia. NWCC was established in Terrace in 1975 but now has campuses also in Prince Rupert, Hazelton, Houston, Kitimat, and Smithers on the mainland, and Masset, Queen Charlotte and Skidegate on the islands of Haida Gwaii.
It has about 1,500 students, 40% of whom are aboriginal, the highest proportion of any post-secondary institution in BC other than Nicola Valley Institute of Technology. The college has entered into a relationship with the Nisga’a Wilp Wilxo’oskwhl Nisga’a (“Nisga’a House of Learning”) to promote and enable residents of the Nass Valley region to obtain post-secondary education.
Dr. Tony Bates is the author of eleven books in the field of online learning and distance education. He has provided consulting services specializing in training in the planning and management of online learning and distance education, working with over 40 organizations in 25 countries. Tony is a Research Associate with Contact North | Contact Nord, Ontario’s Distance Education & Training Network.