2008 Highlights - OACC

Click on a subject area to see OACC's related activities.

Boot Camps with Fogler Rubinoff LLP
Conference and AGM
Elected Officials
Employment Ontario
Key Performance Indicators
Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
Program Standards/Assessments
Training Completion Assurance Fund (TCAF)
Transcript Services

1. Boot Camps with Fogler Rubinoff LLP

January 29. OACC organized a boot camp for flight colleges, not-for-profit institutions and truck driver training institutions about the P.C.C. Act 2005 and its implications.
April 1. OACC organized a boot camp about student contracts, class action suits, human rights compliance and the Ministry’s top 10 compliance concerns.
July 29. OACC organized a boot camp that included an update on the Training Completion Assurance Fund (TCAF) and presentations on buying and selling PCCs, negotiating leases and opportunities in the international market for PCCs.
 

2. Conference and Annual General Meeting

May. OACC held a joint conference with NACC.
June 13. OACC’s annual general meeting was held in Toronto. It included presentations by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities’ Postsecondary Accountability Branch Director Shamira Madhany and Canadian Federation of Independent Business’ Satinder Chera. The AGM also included a demonstration of the proposed new OACC web site, strategic roundtable discussions and the business meeting.
 

3. Elected Officials

February 27. OACC met with Sandra Pupatello, Minister of Economic Development and Trade, to provide an overview of the career college sector’s contribution to Ontario’s prosperity
March 25. OACC participated in the provincial budget lockup and reported the highlights to members, including the announcement of the Second Career program to give unemployed workers access to longer training opportunities.
April 14. OACC met with John Milloy, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, his Queen’s Park staff and some key MTCU employees – including the Superintendent of Private Career Colleges/Director of the Student Support Branch and the Director of the Postsecondary Accountability Branch. The productive discussion covered a range of topics, including:
• the results of the Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation’s Career College Student Survey
• the Second Career Strategy
• the OACC and partial self-regulation
• linkages to the employer community, labour market trends and the exclusion of private career colleges from some fields of training
• the need for quality assurance and accountability, the program standards initiative, the Ontario Qualifications Framework and the desirability of credit transfers
• the benefits of career college programs for students and NACC’s common curriculum and examinations 
June 5. OACC attended the Liberal Party’s Central Trillium Dinner in Mississauga and spoke with Premier Dalton McGuinty about the role the career college sector could play in the Second Career program.
June 25. OACC attended a reception for Minister Milloy to discuss the important role of career colleges in providing training through the Skills Development and Second Career programs.
October 16. OACC met with Ministry Milloy to provide members’ input about the Second Career program’s successes, shortcomings and possible improvements. Following that meeting, several positive changes to the Second Career program were announced and implemented on November 10.
 

4. Employment Ontario
 March. OACC’s Labour Market Development Agreement/Skills Development Committee created a questionnaire relating to the OACC-administered Skills Development program. The results were compiled and relevant data was shared with the Ministry and participants.
August. OACC’s Employment Ontario/Skills Development Committee met with staff from the Employment and Training Division of the MTCU to discuss the Skills Development and Second Career programs and the important role OACC members play.
 

5. Key Performance Indicators (KPI)
March. OACC’s Key Performance Indicators committee met to prepare a position on the principles, criteria and methodology for the collecting and publishing of KPI data that should be implemented under the new Act. In the spring, the Ministry announced an external consultant had been engaged to liaise with OACC and the sector to develop a meaningful KPI process.
July.  The consultant interviewed OACC’s President and Executive Director.
 

6. Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
July. MTCU significantly changed its structure. The Private Institutions Branch was split into two units: the PCC Compliance Unit in the Student Support Branch and the Private Institutions Unit in the Postsecondary Accountability Branch. A third division called the Strategic Policy and Programs Division was created to focus on strategic policy, planning and an integrated approach to program development. The Labour Market and Training Division changed its name to the Employment and Training Division while continuing to be responsible for the delivery of Ontario’s 17 employment and training programs. OACC’s board maintained contact with key Ministry officials through the structural changes. Ministry officials – including the Superintendent of Private Career Colleges/Director of the Student Support Branch, the Director of the Postsecondary Accountability Branch, PCC Compliance Unit Manager, Private Institutions Unit Manager, Student Verification and Compliance Unit Manager and Employment and Training Division staff – made regular update presentations at all seven OACC board meetings. The contact allowed OACC to give input and feedback to the Ministry on a range of issues, including program approvals, re-registrations, RICC, student loans, key performance indicators, skills development, paralegal programs, pharmacy technician programs and many other topics.
September 10 and December 16. OACC held meetings for the Director of the Student Support Branch/Superintendent of PCCs and the Director of the Postsecondary Accountability Branch to review a number of important topics to members, including:
• the closure and train-out of Goodwin College students by an OACC member
• the transition from bonds to TCAF and emphasis on training completions
• program approval turnaround times
• program standards, program assessments,  key performance indicators and pharmacy technician/pharmacy assistant programs
• Ministry communications to PCCs
• OSAP eligibility for online PCC programs

7. Program Standards/Assessments
June 5. OACC’s Program Standards Committee met with Ministry officials to discuss the proposed process for the identification and use of third party program assessors who will evaluate new private career college program applications in terms of outcomes, institutional qualifications, labour market demand, program standards and compliance with the Ontario Qualifications Framework.
July. OACC submitted a response to the Ministry about the draft program assessments process, identifying a number of serious concerns. OACC called for further consultation and a cautious approach
August. At an OACC board meeting, Ministry staff said they were reviewing all of OACC’s input. The board is considering potential roles OACC could take in program approval and assessment processes on behalf members.
 

8. Training Completion Assurance Fund (TCAF)
OACC continued to press that the prime focus of TCAF should be to provide training completions for as many students as possible that are impacted by a sudden closure at as low a cost as possible, rather than providing tuition refunds
 

9. Transcript Services
July. MTCU advised OACC that it was re-approved as a vendor to provide student transcript maintenance and issuance services for three more years until July 2011. Changes have been made to OACC’s STEPS (Student Transcript Electronic Protection System) application to allow career colleges to store their archival transcripts that relate to students who left their colleges prior to September 18, 2006 at a reduced cost.