Yukon College to measure its worth with economic impact study

How much is Yukon College worth, in dollars?

That's a question college officials are looking to answerby commissioning a study into the college's impact on the territorial economy.

"We want to do it now, because we did it 10 years ago," said Karen Barnes, the college's president. "It's a nice time to compare, to see if the college's growth has mirrored that of its impact in the community."

The 2003 study found that Yukon College injected nearly $22 million into the territory's economy, with 151 full time employees, and nearly 500 part time employees.

Barnes said since then, the college has grown significantly.

"Just an example, our research centre has gone from six staff to 22 staff just in the last five years, so that alone has put permanent people right here in the community."

According to Barnes, the school's operating budget has also doubled in the last decade. In 2014, it was $42 million.

Growing into a university

Just over half of that budget $22 million in 2014is covered by the Yukon government. Barnes hopes the new study makes it clear that it's money well-spent.

She also wants to build a stronger business case for its evolutioninto a degree-granting university. The idea has been talked about for years, but Barnes feels it's time to start hashing out some hard numbers.

"So the standard questions you ask are: how many new employees, how many more students, and what kind of impacts will they have in spending," Barnes said.

"But it also is, when you have a university, what are the different activities that a university does? It could be more conferences, more meetings, hosting more people from outside. All of that brings economic benefit to the community."

The college already co-delivers some degree programs, in partnership with the University of Alberta and the University of Regina. It's also now developing what would be the first "made-in-Yukon" degree, a three-year Bachelor of Policy Studies in Indigenous Governance, to begin in 2017.

"The decision's been made, we're going to be a university," Barnes said. "Now we're just talking about what the plan is, how do you roll that out."

The goal is to have theeconomic impact study done by next spring.