All Posts Tagged With: "B.C. Colleges"
B.C.’s next university?
College of the Rockies gets degree granting authority
British Columbia has added another name to its extensive list of degree granting institutions. College of the Rockies (COTR) has been given the go-ahead to offer a Bachelor of Business Administration in Sustainable Business Practices, president Nick Rubidge announced last week.
The four-year program, that begins in September, combines a COTR diploma in accounting, marketing, or general business, with courses from the arts and sciences. Students will complete online specialization courses in their upper years either through COTR or another institution that has agreed to partner with the college, such as Thompson Rivers University and Athabasca University. Fourth-year courses will contain an applied sustainability focus.
According to the Cranbrook Daily Townsman, Rubidge says that a focus on sustainability is necessary as businesses are increasingly expected to consider the environmental impacts of their operations. “I see the skills of our graduates being used in a whole variety of businesses, not just a niche in environmental business, but in all businesses. All business practices need to start by building a business model that includes sustainability and environmental issues,” he said.
Entering the league of degree granting institutions has been a COTR goal for years. “Becoming a degree-granting post-secondary institution is not an easy task. There are many standards, evaluations and criteria to meet, and the process takes years,” Rubidge said.
U-Pass: A gift to students or evidence of a ‘nanny state’?
At a cost of $20-million, the UPass is no longer about post-secondary affordability
When British Columbia premier Gordon Campbell announced the creation of a universal $30/month transit pass for all post-secondary students in the province yesterday, the Canadian Federation of Students applauded the move.
“The U-Pass is an investment in the next generation, in the economy and the environment,” Nimmi Takkar, chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students–BC was quoted as saying in a press release. “This program is going to make a major difference in students’ lives and go a long way towards building a transit culture in British Columbia.”
Just as fast as the CFS media machine cranked out its press release, opponents to the move started decrying the U-Pass announcement as a draconian, paternalistic move typical of our “nanny state.” One reader who responded to On Campus’s news story argued that “students are forced to pay whether they ride the bus or not” despite Translink’s “crappy” service, and who the hell are you anyways to tell me I shouldn’t drive my car?!
Such critics are right about one thing: the policy is not so much allowing students to “access” affordable transportation as it is compelling them to buy in. Nevertheless, none of the schools will sign on until the U-Pass is approved through a student referendum. Although I’m sure it’s annoying for car-loving, suburb-dwelling students out there to be outnumbered by their more green-conscience colleagues, that’s how our democratic society works–so live with it.
The U-Pass isn’t a new idea, but this announcement marks an interesting deviation from the original intent of the program that is worth noting. Originally, the program was intended to be revenue-neutral; basically, Translink would add up its cost of providing transit to a campus then split that cost among the students of that school, regardless of whether they took the bus or not. Translink didn’t make any money off the deal, but they didn’t lose any either. In essence, non-transit-using students subsidized the cost of a transit pass for everyone else. This is why negotiations for U-Passes at other colleges and universities in the Lower Mainland broke down; while the economics of the program made sense at big schools like UBC and SFU, the cost per student was significantly higher elsewhere, and student unions there wouldn’t accept the higher cost.
And so yesterday’s announcement represents a major shift in the philosophy of the project. The $30/month U-Pass is set to cost the provincial government some $20 million. No longer is this a revenue-neutral feel-good program, but a significantly expensive one. And, if this is truly about lowering expenses for students, it’s worth considering whether that $20 million would be better spent on, say, provincial needs-based grants.
But that argument is moot. Because the reality is that the U-Pass program is no longer about affordability, if it ever was, but about promoting a shift towards the “transit culture” Takkar refers to in the CFS release. Using economic means to push people into making more environmentally-friendly choices is par for the course here in B.C., where the country’s first carbon tax was implemented and where car-drivers have long subsidized transit through Translink’s gas tax.
My point is that this program should be recognized for what it is, rather than congratulating ourselves for supporting broke students. And that’s where The Province newspaper hits the nail on the head: “But why should students be singled out? Why is a 19-year-old university student any more worthy of government support than another 19-year-old starting out in life in a job? If the aim is to promote post-secondary education, a more direct way is to further subsidize tuition.”
If we accept the notion that the U-Pass isn’t the best way to subsidize post-secondary education, then the question becomes: is it fair to force students to purchase transit passes that they may not use in the name of promoting transit? Is it appropriate for universities to administer a fee that is fundamentally driven by the desire to shift society?
I don’t have the answer to those questions. But, for the record, I rode my bike to the office today in the rain.
Cracking down on private colleges?
The problem of unregulated colleges in Canada is widespread and elusive
The woman who answers the phone (in Cantonese) at the America Institute of Technology seems confused when I ask, in English, when classes start. “Who are you?” she asks. I tell her that I’m calling for a friend. “We’re not a school,” she replies. “We’re immigration consultants.” Now I’m surprised. The institute’s website, where I found this phone number, advertises one- and two-year diplomas in computer science and hospitality. Tuition ranges in the thousands. But, she insists, she’s never heard of the American Institute of Technology (AIT). She says her firm Yi-Jia Immigration Consultants Ltd. helps people (often from Hong Kong, she says) immigrate to Canada.
When I call again a week later (these phone calls occurred last year), whoever answers the phone is much less confused. “You want to register for classes?” she asks when I say I’m calling about AIT. She forwards me to another woman who says her name is Adelle, but won’t reveal her last name after I say that I am a journalist. She confirms that AIT catered to international students. She says it was associated with Yi-Jia Immigration but hasn’t offered classes since last year. “Do you realize the website is still advertising classes with the same address and phone number as your firm?” I ask. “That must be a mistake,” she says.
The America Institute of Technology is just one example of a unique Canadian gift to higher education: the barely-regulated private college. Some, like AIT, target overseas students, offering them a chance to get into Canada — but for a price, and often under dubious pretenses. Others promise diplomas and degrees to Canadian students that the school is not legally able to offer. They prey mostly off low-income people who may be unemployed and looking for new opportunities during hard economic times.
In a Toronto Star investigation published in September, undercover reporters enrolled in two unregistered schools; one reporter was promised a job as a security guard at Pearson Airport if he paid $262 for a one-day training course. The job never materialized. Another reporter enrolled in a two-week, $480 course and earned a diploma as a personal health care worker by watching DVD videos and reading Wikipedia handouts.
What’s so bad about these schools? For Canadian students, illegal colleges are taking advantage of people’s desire to better themselves and their economic circumstances by charging high fees in exchange for useless credentials and a disingenuous promise of employment. Schools that cater to foreign students are a whole different ballgame. They are not only duping students but also the federal government (which grants student visas) and the public (who trust that students entering Canada on visas are coming here to study at a legitimate institution).
