Articulation

Because education is a responsibility of the provincial government, and not of the federal government, Canada is in the unique and in my view unfortunate position of having ten different post-secondary systems of colleges and universities.  This often leads to some confusion, especially for those in other places who are unfamiliar with our federal model of governance.  For example, Ontario is the only province which offers both three-year and four-year degrees.

In British Columbia, post-secondary students can complete the first two years of most Bachelor degrees at a college, which is less expensive in terms of tuition fees and often also allows them to live at home, before transferring to a university for years three and four.  To facilitate this, the college programs have been set up to be completely transferrable; and I can remember as a department chair in the 1980s being asked to work with Malaspina College (now Vancouver Island University) to develop appropriate curriculum, and to approve the instructors.

A similar initiative is now under way in Ontario, as the government attempts to make PSE more accessible without having to develop the infrastructure for numerous new universities, and the Ministry responsible for universities is conducting discussions with colleges and universities about moving towards a system that may ultimately resemble the one now in place on the west coast.  Frankly, it is probably the only affordable way to increase access substantially, but implementing such a system will not be easy.  Those colleges which are adept at reading the tea leaves are already in the process of establishing university transfer programs, and are seeking partners for what have been termed “articulation” agreements.  I have little doubt that this will happen; it is only a matter of when, and of working out the details.  And of course we know what lies in the latter!

FASS has been approached by Fleming College in Peterborough to explore the possibility of a bi-lateral agreement, along the lines of the one that Fleming already has in place with Trent University.  In a nutshell, the idea is that students who complete Fleming’s one-year certificate program with a specified average could then move to Carleton and receive full transfer credit for their first year.  To ensure parity in terms of quality, Carleton would approve the syllabus of each course being proposed for transfer credit, as well as the credentials of the instructor.  The advantage to Fleming would be that they could offer students taking this program a second option should they decide to go on to take a university degree, in other words something beyond Trent; and the obvious benefit to Carleton is that we would receive a few additional students each year who otherwise would not be coming here.  In effect, it means contracting with Fleming to offer the equivalent of selected first-year Carleton courses in Peterborough.

If we are to move ahead on this – and frankly I think it’s a “no brainer” – then some changes to our current Calendar regulations on transfer credit will be required, and this necessitates some action by the Faculty Board and the Senate.  I shall be addressing this further at the March meeting of the FASS Faculty Board, and I hope that interested faculty members will attend and bring their questions.