Schools partner to offer community development degree
OTTERBURNE, MB—The North American Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies (NAIITS) is partnering with Providence University College to offer a bachelor's degree in Community Development Studies.
The program will begin accepting students this fall, and is set to start in January 2014. It will be designed and delivered by indigenous people, and will provide experiential learning through incorporating a significant component of in-community internship.
Providence president David Johnson says Aboriginal Canadians are underrepresented in university education in Canada. Leaders at Providence and NAIITS felt creating the bachelor's degree would be a good way to address that issue.
"At Providence, we want to strengthen churches and make better communities," says Johnson. "Both those things will be accomplished through this partnership."
Johnson adds that NAIITS leaders are creating the curriculum, and Aboriginal scholars will teach the courses.
"We have unrealized capabilities as a people," Mi'kmaq scholar Terry LeBlanc, executive director of NAIITS, said in a news release announcing the partnership. "This training will build on our capacity by providing practical skills in the context of sound community development theory."
The program will be based not only on the Providene campus, but in the communities where students come from. Students will come to campus for one or two weeks at a time, and then return to their own communities to put curriculum principles into practice. The degree aims to give students marketable skills aimed at assisting their communities in sustainable growth and development.
Ray Aldred, chairperson of NAIITS, noted in a news release that Indigenous people are in a unique position to teach community development.
"We have been slowly rebuilding our communities," he said. "After more than a century-and-a-half [of] assimilation attempts, we have survived and now we are beginning to flourish."
Founded in 2000, NAIITS is a worldwide leader in Indigenous faith-based education. It offers three advanced degrees through partnerships with three other university and seminary institutions. The partnership with PUC marks the first undergraduate degree the organization will offer.
Dear Readers:
ChristianWeek relies on your generous support. please take a minute and donate to help give voice to stories that inform, encourage and inspire.
Donations of $20 or more will receive a charitable receipt.Thank you, from Christianweek.
