Higher education in British Columbia

Generally, successful graduation from high school, with the required academic prerequisites, is needed for admission to programs.

ApplyBC.ca (formerly PASBC) was a system-wide application portal (developed by BCcampus, a publicly funded organization whose role is to support higher education by providing leadership in the use of Information and Communications Technology,[3] that allows people to apply for admission.

It was opened by the Methodist Church of Canada in New Westminster, and it was affiliated with Victoria College of the University of Toronto and offered courses towards Arts & Theology degrees.

On October 28, 1922, almost 1,200 students with floats, bands and banners marched through downtown Vancouver to the Point Grey campus.

The student protest and media attention spurred the government to provide funding to finish the construction and move UBC from Fairview to Point Grey.

As a result, student numbers tripled to over 9,000 by 1947 and UBC experienced a crunch in classroom space and a lack of faculty to teach the extra classes that were needed.

By 1956, a new provincial Teacher Training Program was established at UBC, and the Victoria and Vancouver Normal Schools were closed.

Then in 1983, the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology opened to address the low participation and success rates of First Nations students in higher education.

In addition, it is responsible for intergovernmental issues, performance accountability, data management and analysis, and policy related to transitions within the post-secondary education system.

A Degree Quality Assessment Board[13] established in 2002 works with the government on reviews and makes recommendations to the Minister on institution applications.

They are able to decide how to achieve their mandate and deal with the various levels of administrative details with regard to operations, faculty, staff, and students.

"Public post-secondary institutions in British Columbia receive about one-half of their total revenue from the provincial government in the form of grants from AVED.

The rest they receive from tuition, ancillary services, federal grants, donations, endowments, investments and research revenue.

This type of funding is associated with increasing the number of graduates from high priority programs, expanding online access, and establishes permanent British Columbia Leadership Chairs and British Columbia Regional Innovation Chairs via the Leading Edge Endowment Fund.

[citation needed] In relation to the system, more funding is necessary to focus on the specific targets of post-secondary achievement by progressively introducing outcome and performance measurements and accountability into the budgeting process.

[26] As a result, with funding falling short of institutional needs, operating costs of post-secondary institutions were shifted on to students via tuition increases, through the sale of endowment lands to developers for market housing, or relying more on corporation and private donations to maintain programs and build or restore facilities.

The government administers a variety of student assistance programs for Canadian citizens, protected persons, and permanent residents.

Other resources include Studentawards.com, a database of scholarships, bursaries, grants and fellowships operated by an online advertising and market research data collection company, ScholarshipsCanada.com (operated by EDge Interactive, a student recruitment company), and while searches can be tailored to focus on British Columbia, both websites require registration and personal information for access to the databases.

The federal government also has listings for British Columbia in a section of its web-site dedicated to youth, Scholarships and Bursaries.

The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) manages more than 150 scholarship programs on behalf of the federal government, domestic and foreign agencies, and private sector companies.

International students with a permit to study in Canada are usually qualified to apply for entrance or transfer scholarships, and they should contact their intended institution's awards and financial assistance office for further information.

These institutions offer academic, vocational, technical, and continuing education for adults, striving to provide bilingual, bicultural certificate, diploma, and degree programs in areas such as forest rangers/technicians, fishery technicians, biologists, and scientists and training in hospitality and tourism, social services, trades, and financial planning.

[29] This strategy aimed to accomplish this goal by: Aboriginal students have personal and academic support like that offered through the First Nations House of Learning at the University of British Columbia, which offers students a "home away from home" and can help to alleviate the feelings of isolation and loneliness that many Aboriginal people feel, especially at large urban universities and colleges.

Its mandate is "to provide technology support services ... to reduce barriers caused by the disability in meeting educational and employment goals.

Through this program, adults with disabilities who are post-secondary students and/or clients of EPPD are eligible for special technology support services.

These services include assessment, consultation loan of adaptive technology and training on the use of technology, all of which facilitate independence with reading, writing, and communication within learning and work situations" [30] The University of British Columbia is home to the Crane Resource Centre and Library, which provides resources for students with print disabilities, including a collection of approximately 2000 Braille titles, including dictionaries and foreign language texts; 4500 titles on audiocassette, CD, or e-text; 75 titles in large-print format; and a collection of print books, reports, government publications and journals dealing with blindness and print impairment.

Globalization and modern technology has made it easier to obtain education in other countries, and governments are taking note when they consider their post-secondary student populations as a possible source of skilled workers to join the local economy.

The study reported that BC's institutions were uncoordinated in their internationalization efforts, were failing to present a professional image abroad, and that the province was not sufficiently proactive.

The ability of students to transfer from one post-secondary institution to another without losing credit for coursework at a previous institution in British Columbia is enabled with the presence of the BC Council on Admissions and Transfer (BCCAT), a provincially funded agency that was created in 1989 to replace the Post-Secondary Articulation Coordinating Committee that had been established in 1974.

Private institutions have to be approved by the Degree Quality Assessment Board and have received the minister's consent to be accepted by BCCAT as a member of the BC Transfer System.