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Originally Posted by DTBourque
The SJW type definitely exists at MtA, but unless things have really changed in the last 5 years, it's probably not as bad as you think.
You can't be top on MacLean's that many times and have that many Rhodes Scholars without attracting a lot of students from the wealthiest families in Canada and the world. Same goes for students who are the highest achievers academically. These aren't usually SJW types. The status quo is working for a lot of them. If they're studying liberal arts, it's because they have the leisure or because they're doing an advanced degree after anyways. I was in Philosophy and the student body definitely wasn't what you would have expected. Generally, my experience was that MtA students took a limited interest to the affairs of the town in many cases.
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No offence to MTA - It certainly is a fine institution with a great track record and a sterling reputation in academic circles. One of my three sons went there for his science degree
MTA though is sort of frozen in time regarding its mandate. I appreciate that it is a top notch liberals arts undergraduate institution, but I think it is in some ways missing the boat by not aspiring to be more than this.
I went to UPEI for my undergraduate science degree. At the time, UPEI and MTA were pretty much equivalent in size and in program offerings. Since then though, UPEI has developed a School of Veterinary Medicine (with all the associated graduate programs in life and veterinary sciences that go with that), a School of Nursing and a School of Environmental Engineering. UPEI has made the jump into the category of mid sized comprehensive universities.
Meanwhile MTA remains virtually unchanged. In fact, they have let their Education and Pre-Engineering programs go. It is almost exclusively an undergraduate university (save for a couple of masters programs in biology and chemistry). The only new program of note is a BSc in Aviation in conjunction with the Moncton Flight College.
I think MTA is missing the boat. I think they could maintain excellence as a small liberal arts university while at the same time building select graduate and professional degree programs to service the anglophone community in southeastern NB.
MTA could maintain the current campus as is in order to continue to provide that intimate Ivy League type undergraduate experience that it is so well known for. Perhaps at the same time however, MTA could develop a second
urban campus in downtown Moncton, providing Moncton students with access to courses in the basic arts and sciences, while at the same time working towards graduate level programs in certain disciplines and perhaps a professional school or two. For example an MBA program based in Moncton would be very well received I think. The UNB Nursing Program and the UNB Health Sciences program in X-Ray Technology could be transferred to MTA as well. Both of these programs are based at the Moncton Hospital. Finally, the BSc in Aviation could be located entirely in Moncton. I'm sure other opportunities could exist as well. A Moncton MTA campus would likely end up having an enrolment similar to or perhaps even higher than the Sackville campus has.
I think there are opportunities for growth and change for MTA, if they were willing to look further afield and set up a campus in Moncton.