It was an announcement 54 years in the making: Red Deer College is now officially a degree granting institution.

It took three tries, but Thursday afternoon Premier Rachel Notley was at RDC to make the announcement official, to a delighted crowd of students and local dignitaries seated inside the Arts Centre.

She says higher education is an incredibly important tool.

“We see post-secondary education as many things. It’s an economic development tool, an economic diversification tool, a community building tool, and almost an effective human right. We just need to always be thinking about ways in which all Albertans can develop their own opportunities in a way that makes their life better.”

Citing multiple partners, board members, and students past and present, President and CEO of RDC Joel Ward was ecstatic to finally be able to make it official, and open the doors to Central Alberta students to remain in their communities while they pursue their career goals.

He says he's been pushing for this the entire ten years he has been President.

But, just because they've been preparing both mentally and structurally, with $118 million worth of new buildings being open this year alone, that doesn't mean they are ready to grant university degrees tomorrow.

“The structure of our organization has been put in place already to start this work. And I think it’s really important to understand that it’s going to take the time it’s going to take to get us there, we have work to do and the government is going to work with us to make this happen. So anyone that has the expectation that we flip a light tomorrow and we are operating as a university…I think we need to manage the expectations a little bit.”

Ward says it'll be at least a few years before the transition is complete, right now it's essentially just in name.

And speaking of, they will be reaching out to the community to decide on a new name for the post-secondary institution, which has grown up to join the elite class of Universities in Alberta.

RDC wasn’t the only educational institution in Alberta to receive university status Thursday.

The Alberta College of Art and Design, the only post-secondary institution on the prairies devoted exclusively to fine arts education, will also become a university, pending proposed changes to the Post-secondary Learning Actare being brought before the legislature sometime in the near future.