Colleges Ontario Says The Province Needs 3-year Degree Programs

Ontario’s 26 colleges want to offer their students 3-year degree programs and need the government’s help.

College’s Ontario recently submitted a 26-page report to the provincial government, stating that colleges should have the authority to offer new three-year degrees and to convert some of the three-year diploma programs to degree programs.

“Giving colleges the authority to offer three-year degrees will provide an important new option to students,” said Linda Franklin, the president and CEO of Colleges Ontario.

“In most of the world, a student completing the same program would graduate with a degree… It’s time to elevate higher education in Ontario to international standards and give colleges the authority to offer three-year degrees.”

The report is called Empowering Ontario: Transforming Higher Education in the 21st Century, and also recommends:

• More courses offered through OntarioLearn by 50 per cent.
• Colleges offering stand-alone nursing-degree programs.
• Colleges becoming responsible for the in-school portion of apprenticeship programs.
• Colleges and universities publicly reporting their strategies to help students transfer among post-secondary institutions.

The report also states that many of Ontario’s ‘ three-year college programs already meet the province’s standards for baccalaureate education.