Manitoba's provincial government will perform a review of college education to look for ways to strengthen the system to improve student outcomes, Portage la Prairie MLA and Minister of Education and Training Ian Wishart says.

Wishart made the announcement at Red River College's Portage Campus Monday. He says the government's hired a third-party consultant, Higher Education Strategy Associated, to conduct the review. The study is being done as part of a mandate for the province to perform a regular five-year review of Manitoba colleges.

“We really want to have a look at where colleges are headed,” Minister Wishart explains. “They're becoming an increasingly important part of the post-secondary education system in Manitoba. They often reflect the changes in terms of technology, new skill-sets (and) new job opportunities, in terms of what they're training for.”

“We're looking forward to getting the opportunity to get the colleges aligned with the needs of the job market now and into the future.”

According to a government release, the main focuses of the review will be:
1) College system vision and partnerships
2) Programming, including relevance to labour market needs
3) Student outcomes
4) Financial management, governance, efficiency, and effectiveness
5) Student and client services including contract training, adult learning centres and international education.

Wishart says relationships between post-secondary institutions will also be examined.

“We want to have a look at how everything fits together and whether there are some partnering opportunities,” he notes. “Whether other post-secondaries like universities should be partnering more. There's been a bit of that done and it's work very well ... Industry wants people with hands-on experience plus theoretical training as well.”

Wishart expects a report with recommendations will be delivered to the provincial government by late 2017. Potential courses changes at colleges based on insights wouldn't likely happen until 2019.

The last time a review of college education was conducted in Manitoba was 2007.