Skip to content

Canadore supports colleges offering three-year degrees

Canadore College News Release ******************** Canadore fully supports the submission made by the province’s 24 colleges to the government of Ontario stating that colleges must be given the authority to offer three-year degrees.
Canadore College
News Release

********************

Canadore fully supports the submission made by the province’s 24 colleges to the government of Ontario stating that colleges must be given the authority to offer three-year degrees.


The recommendation is part of the Ontario colleges’ submission to government, Empowering Ontario: Transforming Higher Education in the 21st Century, which calls for important changes to the delivery of postsecondary education.


“The truth is that most of the colleges’ three-year programs already meet the province’s standards for the majority of degree programs,” said George Burton, President of Canadore College. “At other postsecondary institutions around the globe, a student completing the same program would actually graduate with a degree. Although this model is new to Ontario, it is common practice internationally.”


The 26-page report says that colleges should have the ability to offer new three-year degrees and to convert some of the three-year diploma programs to degree programs.


“It’s time to elevate higher education in Ontario to international standards and give colleges the authority to offer three-year degrees,” said Linda Franklin, the President and CEO of Colleges Ontario.


The report makes recommendations to the government based on student interest in career-focused programs and a desire to graduate with a degree instead of a diploma while maintaining the same applied knowledge and skills developed at the college level. Ontario colleges are also calling for this change in response to employers in Canada and internationally who put a higher value on a degree.


Another key proposal in the submission calls for Ontario’s college sector to use its own internationally recognized Ontario College Quality Assurance Service (OCQAS) to assess and approve degrees in the sector.


“Students would benefit from colleges being able to offer a full slate of credentials, from certificates to diplomas, to applied degrees,” said Burton. “It is not our intention to duplicate pathways, but rather in being complementary to the gaps that currently exist in the postsecondary system.”


The CO submission makes a number of other recommendations to give greater numbers of students the opportunity to pursue career training as part of their postsecondary studies. Some of the other recommendations include:


Increase the availability of online college courses offered through OntarioLearn by 50 per cent.
Allow colleges to offer stand-alone nursing-degree programs.

Make Ontario’s colleges responsible for most of the administration of the in-school portion of apprenticeship programs.


Require colleges and universities to publicly report on their strategies to help students transfer among postsecondary institutions.


Canadore also submitted its own strategic mandate to the Hon. Glen Murray, Minster of Training, Colleges and Universities. The document fully supports the recommendations made collectively by the 24 colleges across Ontario and remains focused on the Canadore College strategic plan, endorsed by its Board of Governors last spring.


“At Canadore, we connect people, education and employment through leadership and innovation,” said Burton. “These key priorities allow us to prepare a skilled and talented workforce for a creative local, provincial, national and global economy.”


The Skilled Solution 2017: Canadore College Strategic Plan is available online at www.canadorecollege.ca.


The full report, Empowering Ontario: Transforming Higher Education in the 21st Century, is available online at www.collegesontario.org.


Canadore provides access to over 60 full-time quality programs and has outstanding faculty and student services. Each year, approximately 1,000 graduates join a network of 37,000 alumni working around the globe.

***********************