Key Activities
Some key activities carried out in 2010-11 are highlighted below.
1. Western Consortium on Admissions and Transfer (WestCAT)
BCCAT has been meeting over the last few years with its transfer council counterparts in Alberta (ACAT) and Saskatchewan (SaskCAT, which was disbanded in March 2010). In October 2010, the work of the three provinces was expanded to include Manitoba at the first meeting of the Western Canadian Consortium on Admissions and Transfer (WestCAT). Representatives from BCCAT and ACAT met with government and post-secondary officials from Saskatchewan and Manitoba to explore opportunities for collaboration and information sharing in the areas of transfer and student mobility. WestCAT's stated mandate is "to encourage and facilitate inter-provincial access, mobility, and transfer of credits for students moving among British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba." WestCAT plans to meet annually and undertake joint activities as required and when feasible to do so.
2. Pan-Canadian Consortium on Admissions and Transfer (PCCAT)
In June 2010, BCCAT hosted the fifth annual meeting of the Pan-Canadian Consortium on Admissions and Transfer (PCCAT) in Vancouver. The theme of the meeting, which for the first time included a conference format, was Best Practices in Student Mobility: Transforming Higher Education in Canada. The conference was organized by a committee of PCCAT members from across Canada. The conference concluded with a discussion on the future direction of PCCAT as a national organization and resulted in the formation of the Sub-committee on PCCAT Structure and Mandate that is tasked with exploring ways of maintaining a viable structure into the future.
BCCAT continued its involvement in 2010-11 in the work of PCCAT's Research Sub-Committee, both by chairing it and providing secretariat support. The sub-committee released in advance of the June PCCAT conference its first research report entitled A Profile of Out-of-Province Transfer Students Admitted to Four Universities: The University of Alberta, the University of British Columbia, the University of Saskatchewan, and York University available at pccat.ca/files/pccat-2010 under PCCAT Research Study 2010. The report was funded by BCCAT on behalf of PCCAT. PCCAT members agreed that the sub-committee should seek funding from various sources to undertake a second project which would involve a survey of all universities in Canada to determine the numbers and sources of out-of-province post-secondary transfer students. The sub-committee drafted the survey and received a commitment of funding from the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC), Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO), the College University Consortium Council (CUCC) of Ontario, and the Association of Registrars of the Universities and Colleges of Canada (ARUCC). The project will be carried out in 2011-12.
3. Council of Ministers of Education Canada (CMEC)
Dr. Fleming participates with the CMEC Working Group on Credit Transfer on a regular basis. He represents the Province of British Columbia on this national committee, which facilitates pan-Canadian dialogue and collaboration on credit transfer matters. Each year, BCCAT submits an annual update on transfer activities in BC for inclusion in the Working Group's annual report. The report for 2010-11 is available at bccat.ca/pubs/CMECReport_March11.pdf.
4. Transfer, Articulation, and Pathways (TAP) Committee
In 2009, the Board of Directors of the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) identified transferability, articulation and pathways as a priority in its 2009-2012 Strategic Plan and established the Transfer, Articulation, and Pathways Committee (TAP) to guide ACCC's work. As stated by ACCC in its publication, Post-Secondary Education Transferability, Articulation and Pathways in Canada, the Committee is examining the merits of developing a pan-Canadian framework that embraces transferability, articulation, and credential recognition within and between post-secondary education systems and is seeking to develop a coalition of stakeholders to recommend policies and practices to achieve this.
Dr. Frank Gelin has represented BCCAT's interest on this committee. He has strongly advocated for expanding the committee to include formal representation from the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) as well as from the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC). It is BCCAT's view that substantive and meaningful progress will be achieved only if there is active participation by our Canadian universities and the Advanced Education Ministries across the country. The TAP Committee has concurred with this approach and the ACCC staff has put substantial effort into achieving this objective. Consequently, two representatives from AUCC and one from CMEC attended the most recent meeting, and they have all agreed to remain on the Committee.
