Inter-Institutional Diversity in the Ontario College System (2002-2012): A Comparison of Three Colleges

Kevin Ramdas

Ph.D. Candidate, Higher Education

Changes in Legislation

Post-Secondary Education Choice and Excellence Act (2000)- Degree granting

Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology Act (2002)- Shift in accountability structure- Addition of research into mandate- Created ‘Institutes of Technology and Advanced

Learning’ (ITALs)

The Ontario College System

• 23 Colleges, spread over geographic region

• Responsive to local community needs• Range of programs/credentials:

apprenticeship, 2- and 3- year diplomas, grad certificates, degrees, continuing ed, new immigrant

• All colleges are different, but the same

Drivers of Change

• Resource Management

• Students (Enrolment Growth and Demographics)

• Government

The Effect of College Size and Growth• Larger colleges have more leeway to

absorb start-up costs for new initiative

• Greater enrolment growth allows a college to hire more personnel

Two main changes

• Degree offering

• Research activity

Findings: Degrees

College Response to Degree-Granting Capability

General Findings: Degrees

Why do colleges want to offer more degrees?1) Serving student population, pathways for students

2) Key to enrolment growth

3) Need to cluster programs to make financially viable (The mid-size colleges will need to surpass the 5% cap to make degree offering a financially sustainable activity)

General Findings: Degrees

PEQAB Faculty requirement• All faculty teaching in degree programs must have one

credential higher than the program offered• 50% of faculty teaching core and breadth courses must

have terminal credential

Effect• In all potential degree areas, Ph.D. applicants are

preferred faculty hires• requirements will lead to slower, but sustained

differentiation

General Findings: Research Activity• All colleges lacked experience and a research track

record• Research capacity takes long to develop

– Internal mechanisms: policies, procedures, release time, support for grant writing, internal-funding,

– External funding needed to create programs to focused on colleges

• Colleges established the CONII research network to develop a track record and promote research at all colleges

Comparison of Colleges

College Enrollment Annual Budget

# of campuses

Large >15000 $300M 10

Medium 5000<15000 $120M 2

Small <5000 $60M 1

Program Distribution comparisonCollege Ontario

certificatesAPP diploma Advanced

diplomaGraduate certificates

Degrees

Large 19 0 59 29 27 10

Medium 12 13 66 14 13 2

Small 48 9 35 12 11 0

Research Activity Comparison

College Year Research Office Established

CONII

FedDev

CFI NSERC Other Total Grants since 2002

Large 2004 Yes Yes Yes No Yes $1.5M

Medium 2010 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes $6.5M

Small 2007 Yes Yes No Yes Yes $2.5M

Other Activities

College

Large Large-scale university partnershipsInternational campusInternational PartnershipsLocal partnerships

Medium Small-scale university partnershipLocal partnerships

Small International campusSmall-scale university partnershipLocal partnerships

Summary

• The differentiation process has only been happening for 10 years

• There is a divide between colleges that offer degree and those that do not offer degrees

• All colleges are trying to do research

Future Research

• Does differentiation aid students and increase choices in Ontario?

• Effect of Funding Framework on College program decision-making

• The effect of Inter-institutional diversity on individual institutions

THANK YOU