Open Learning Institute of British Columbia

[1] In 2005 it was amalgamated as the Open Learning Division with the newly designated Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops (TRU), BC.

[3] In the late 1970s the BC Minister of Education Pat McGeer commissioned a number of reports to examine the problem of lack of academic programs in the more remote areas of the province.

[2] Formed under the BC Colleges and Provincial Institutes Act (1977), OLI was initially structured with an independent Board of Governors that included community and university members, selected in part for their geographical distribution around the province.

John Ellis was appointed as the first Principal, seconded from the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University for a two-year period.

[7] As the organization matured, the profile of OLI students was found to be similar to that seen among most part-time and adult learners in post-secondary institutions, including those employed full-time, studying for reasons of personal interest or needs related to the workplace, with an age range of 21 to 40 years, and with women constituting a slight majority among the total number of students.

[6] OLI faced many obstacles in its early days, ranging from poor funding and lack of acceptance by BC's universities, to misunderstanding of open education by many government officials.

[4] In spite of these challenges, among its contributions to the provincial educational milieu were increasing focus on collaboration within the BC system to address various career, technical and vocational needs, an educational credit bank, and a variety of new certificate and degree programs, evident in the journey from the beginning of OLI in 1978 to its place in Thompson Rivers University, Open Learning today, including some instructors (Open Learning Faculty Members) that worked in the original institute.