Robust pathways for students. The growing skills mismatch is a leading economic challenge for

Transcription

1 ANNUAL REPORT 2012

2 The growing skills mismatch is a leading economic challenge for Ontario. As the province strives to ensure more people have the skills and qualifications to successfully fill new job openings, it is essential that more students get access to college education. The applied learning and hands-on experience offered at college prepare graduates for career success. This means Ontario must encourage greater numbers of students to pursue college programs, and must help more university students get access to college programs. Colleges Ontario was a leading voice during the provincial consultations in 2012 on the future of post-secondary education. A comprehensive report was provided to the Ontario government that is influencing the politicians thinking about higher education and the importance of preparing students for long-term success in their careers. Other highlights from the year included several successful conferences; most notably a Toronto event that examined mental health issues facing students across the province. Robust pathways for students Colleges chart a vision for the future of higher education It is crucial that students in the postsecondary system get access to a broader range of program choices to better prepare them for long-term success after they graduate. This is important for students and it will ensure the country is able to address the skills shortage. In response to provincial consultations on the future of post-secondary education, Colleges Ontario produced an important submission on behalf of the sector that calls for a significant reform of higher education. The report, Empowering Ontario: Transforming Higher Education for the 21st Page 1

3 Century, was based on brainstorming sessions among the college presidents, a college working group looking at post-secondary reform, the vice-presidents, academic, the colleges government relations committee, along with online experts in the colleges and others. The submission s recommendations include expanding the range of degree programs offered at colleges, improving apprenticeship through greater use of Ontario s colleges, increasing access to online college programs, and enhancing the system for recognizing completed credits so more students can get a combination of both college and university education. This will contribute to robust pathways for our students. The report is influencing policy discussions at Queen s Park and some of the key recommendations were included in a 2013 policy paper released by the Ontario Conservatives. Helping college and university students transfer credits Colleges Ontario s efforts to help more college and university students transfer to another Ontario institution continued to produce important results in The colleges had argued Ontario needed a new, powerful agency to oversee the system for post-secondary students transferring to another college or university. The new agency would help students get more recognition for their completed credits, which reduces the courses they have to repeat at the new institution. In 2012, Colleges Ontario worked with the government to ensure its new agency, the Ontario Council on Articulation and Transfer (ONCAT), would be effective by ensuring ONCAT s governance model included an essential role for colleges and students. Colleges Ontario also secured funding to support projects that improve a student s ability to transfer from an apprenticeship program to a college diploma program and from a diploma program to a college degree program. Increasing college access and retention Encouraging young people to explore college Colleges Ontario continued its advertising efforts to provide parents and students with a better understanding of the value of college education, particularly at a time when growing numbers of employers are seeking post-secondary graduates with careerspecific skills and knowledge. The sector s most recent ads, called Higher Education for the New World, had been launched in the fall of 2011 and continued in the spring and fall of Those ads promote many of the high-tech careers available to college graduates. As well, the sector continued its advertising campaign, Break Your Own Trail, which specifically encourages aboriginal students to explore college education. Page 2

4 Intuitional responsibility and responsiveness Pursuing stand-alone nursing degrees With campuses throughout the province, Ontario s colleges are uniquely positioned to deliver nursing graduates to serve in a vast number of communities. An important step would be for Ontario to give colleges the authority to offer stand-alone nursing degree programs, rather than requiring all nursing students to attend a combination of both college and university. Many colleges are ready to offer stand-alone programs. In response to advocacy work done by Colleges Ontario, the provincial government in 2012 established a committee of college, university and government representatives to explore this idea in more detail. The committee is examining improvements to the post-secondary system that would include stand-alone college nursing programs, stand-alone university programs and collaborative college-university programs for educating nurses. This would bring Ontario in line with other provinces and would also improve the opportunities to educate and train nurses in communities that don t have access to university programs. Leadership in innovation and productivity College research projects promote economic growth Recognizing colleges as leaders in innovation was the focus of a spring gathering at the MaRs Centre in Toronto. Industry leaders and college representatives gathered for a celebration of outstanding innovation projects taking place at Ontario s public colleges. The breakfast meeting highlighted the outstanding research partnerships between industry and the province s colleges, and how the research has led to innovations that promoted economic growth and new jobs. The successful business relationships were facilitated by the Colleges Ontario Network for Industry Innovation (CONII). Deborah Newman, the Deputy Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, spoke to the group about the importance of collaboration and strong partnerships between businesses and colleges. Other speakers at the event included Jonathan Hack, manager of strategic technology engineering for Bombardier. Benchmarking work helps colleges develop best practices Ontario s colleges have been working collaboratively to develop a better understanding of the student population and how to best serve those students. In 2012, Colleges Ontario oversaw the work of a sector task force that developed benchmarking standards for the sector in areas such as student profiles. That task force, working with Colleges Ontario and the Ontario College Application Service, has provided data to colleges that will help individual colleges determine best practices for improvement. Page 3

5 Supporting students with mental health issues As Ontario strives to produce greater numbers of post-secondary graduates, it is important to ensure that effective supports are in place for students that need help. This is particularly true for students struggling with the stigma around mental health issues. On May 17, nearly 300 people college and university experts, student leaders, health-care providers, government officials, and others gathered for a major conference in Toronto called Focus on Mental Health. The goal was to have an open exchange of ideas about how best to help students and employees dealing with mental health challenges. The conference was organized by Colleges Ontario, the Council of Ontario Universities, the College Student Alliance, and the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance. The keynote speakers included Michael Wilson, former finance minister, Dr. David Goldbloom, chair of the Canadian Mental Health Association, and TV personality Valerie Pringle and her daughter, Catherine. Topics discussed at the event included the challenge of eliminating the stigma around mental health and strategies for building a healthy workplace. The conference helped lead to a new government-funded initiative to establish best practices, led by Colleges Ontario, the COU, student groups and CAMH. A full report on the Focus on Mental Health conference can be found on the Colleges Ontario website. Providing services for at-risk students As Ontario strives to produce more postsecondary graduates for the new economy, it is important to support students who need extra help. In 2012, a report prepared for Colleges Ontario by Deloitte found the funding the government provides to colleges to support at-risk students is significantly less than the demand for services. The report found the annual cost to colleges for programs and services for at-risk students is more than $100 million beyond the funding provided. The report said those programs and services lead to significant improvements in graduation rates and the funding shortfall should be addressed. Page 4

6 Conference examines the challenges ahead Colleges Ontario s annual conference, the Higher Education Summit, provides postsecondary leaders with an opportunity to think strategically about how post-secondary education can help promote a stronger economy and address the nation s other challenges. The Higher Education Summit continues to be the leading event for post-secondary education in Canada. The keynote speaker at the 2012 Higher Education Summit was Pulitzer Prize-winning author and New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman. Other featured speakers at the event included Canadian author Irshad Manji, Wealthy Barber and Dragons Den star David Chilton and Canadian Auto Workers economist Jim Stanford. The conference also helps promote the successes available to people who pursue higher education. At this past November s conference, then premier Dalton McGuinty delivered a keynote speech at the 20 th anniversary gala of the Premier s Awards for outstanding college graduates. McGuinty spoke about the important role post-secondary education plays in helping people achieve long-term success. Sustained fiscal health Colleges seek sustainable funding In a submission to government, Colleges Ontario called on the provincial government to make addressing the skills mismatch a priority in the 2013 Ontario Budget. For colleges to produce more graduates, it is essential that the government address inequities from the 2012 budget that called for the college sector to assume a disproportionate share of scheduled funding reductions. The submission also called for the province to establish a framework for college tuition policies that is separate from the tuition policies for universities. Determining space requirements at colleges One of the issues facing Ontario is addressing the backlog of capital requirements at colleges. To determine exactly what must be done, Colleges Ontario conducted a space standards review in 2012 to determine the space requirements at each college. Colleges Ontario and a college sector steering committee provided overall guidance to Education Consulting Services (ECS), which was selected to lead the project. In addition, the Ontario College Application Service has developed a new system to analyze and house the data. All colleges have access to the database. Page 5

7 The project report will support the system s efforts to raise awareness of the need for capital investments into colleges. The project is also intended to support local college capital planning processes by providing a provincial framework. The research was conducted with financial support from the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. Our partners OCAS In 2012, the Ontario College Application Service enabled more than 200,000 individuals to apply online to more than half a million college programs choices, resulting in more than 100,000 new college entrants. More than college, university and high school transcripts were exchanged through OCAS s Electronic Transcript Management System (etms), which integrates with the university transcript hub. OCAS uploaded more than three-million high school grade records from current Ontario high school students to support students college applications, and transmitted the grades electronically to colleges. Just fewer than 200,000 inquiries were answered from applicants, their parents, high schools and colleges in the customer contact centre. Cutting down on paper is a priority. The 2012 goal of electronically receiving 80 per cent of the transcripts for prior high school graduates who are now applying to college was achieved. Work began on validating the Ontario Education Number (OEN) against the Ministry of Education registry for applicants who confirm to college offers. OCQAS Reducing red tape and providing easier pathways for students on their post-secondary journey is a goal for Ontario s colleges. The Ontario College Quality Assurance Service (OCQAS) is one of the key players in achieving that goal. OCQAS is the oversight body for the college s self-regulatory system that was developed and implemented in The OCQAS operates two quality assurance and improvement mechanisms: the Credentials Validation Service (CVS) at the program level; and, the Program Quality Assurance Process Audit (PQAPA) at the institutional level. The OCQAS is responsible to an arm s-length management board for policy direction, and to the secretariat of Colleges Ontario for its day-to-day operations. In 2012, the Credentials Validation Service (CVS) received and processed more than 210 applications for validation, one of the busiest years of its operation. Eighty per cent of these applications are for new program validations while the other 20 per cent are for modifications to existing programs. The Program Quality Assurance Process Audit (PQAPA) is well into its second round of academic audits with the colleges, having completed 33 audits to date, with another five on the schedule for the coming year. In June 2012, the college sector s Committee of Presidents approved a recommendation to move the audit process to an accreditation process that would begin in September The work to ready the system and the process for accreditation is underway and will result in Ontario colleges having the first institutional accreditation process in Canada. Page 6

8 CONII The Colleges Ontario Network for Industry Innovation (CONII) is dedicated to connecting Ontario s small- and medium-sized enterprises to the applied research capacity of Ontario s colleges to assist the business in becoming more competitive in the global environment. Working directly with businesses on their product and process development enables the development of the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs. As well, students gain the innovation skills technical and people-centred that are necessary to become strong contributors to Canada s knowledge-based economy. In 2012, CONII provided approximately $845,000 in financial support to 54 industryinitiated applied research projects, which leveraged an additional $1.35 million in funding. CONII is now a network of all of Ontario s 24 public colleges, welcoming Loyalist College to the network in April 2012 and Canadore College in February Financial statements summary for 2012 Annual Report Statement of financial position March 31, 2012, with comparitive figures for 2011 Assets Current assets Capital assests Total assests 7,457, , 928 7,911,785 7,870, ,869 8,407,537 Liabilities and net assets Current liabilities Net assets Total liabilities and net assets 6,195,054 1,716,761 7,911,785 6,828,701 1,578,836 8,407,537 Statement of changes in net assets Year ended March 31, 2012, with comparative figures for 2011 Net assets, beggining of year Excess of revenue over expenses Balance, end of year Statement of operations Year ended March 31, 2012 with comparitive figures for 2011 Revenue Expenses Excess of revenue over expenses 1,578, , 895 1,716,731 13,488,162 13,350, ,895 1,507,453 71,383 1,578,836 13,030,845 12,959,462 71,383 Page 7