College to seek U.S. accreditation
No Canadian system; president says it's needed to attract foreign students
Bethany Lindsay
newsroom@nsnews.com

WITH no national
accreditation process
for post-secondary
schools, Canada
could be missing
out on attracting
crucial interest from
international students,
according to Capilano
College president Greg
Lee.
Earlier
this
month,
Lee announced that his
college would seek formal
accreditation
from
an
American agency, in response
to a complete absence of
similar
organizations
at
home.
The
Washington-based
Northwest Commission on
Colleges and Universities is
one of six regional agencies
with accreditation powers
overseen by the
U.S.
Department of Education. It
evaluates public and private
institutions based on selfassessments and peer reviews.
Canada has no comparable
national system. Lee said that
might have been acceptable
when most of our colleges
and universities were publicly
funded and fairly consistent in
quality, but the proliferation
of private schools has made
accreditation a necessity.
"Canada is the only country
among the developed nations
that doesn't have a national
ministry responsible for postsecondary education," Lee
said. "There's no federal
presence that's taking the
leadership."
North Vancouver MP Don

CAPILANO
College
president Greg Lee says
the proliferation of private
schools in Canada makes
a national system of
accreditation a necessity.

Bell said that he only recently
learned that Canada lacks a
national accreditation system
through discussions with
Lee.
Bell called the creation of
such a system an "excellent
idea," and said that he would
be meeting with Lee again
soon to get a better idea of the
benefits and issues involved.
A mark of accreditation
could be the deciding factor
for foreign students looking
to study in Canada, Lee said.
Without a formal system in
place, he said Canada could
be shooting itself in the foot .
That's because foreign
students, who
currently
account for fewer than 10 per
cent of Capilano's students,
are big contributors to
the economy. The average
international student on the
North Shore spends more than
$25,000 in the community

each- year, resulting in a $20million boost to business.
But there's another reason
for schools like Capilano to
compete for students from
overseas. With the country's
birth rate declining, colleges
need to think internationally
if they want to fill classrooms
and tuition coffers.
According to a StatsCan
report released in 2005,
elementary and secondary
school enrolment both began
a slow decline in the mid1990s.
Lee said that college and
university enrolment numbers
have also peaked in recent
years, and he expects them to
begin falling off. "If numbers
are declining in the school
system, they'll decline in postsecondary, too," he said.
In the spring, Lee
announced that Capilano
College would be applying
for designation as a regional
university. At the time, he
said that identification as
a university could help to
attract foreign students.
While the school system
is finding itself with more
resources than students, holes
are also beginning to open
in the workforce. Bell said
that, as baby boomers retire,
Canada will need trained
immigrants to pick up the
slack.
Canada also depends on
international students to build
international connections that
last beyond graduation, Bell
said.
Foreign students gain a
"social education" about
Canada and according to Bell
"that helps our prominence
on the world scene, and
helps people understand the

difference between Canada
and the United States."
In British Columbia,
the Private Career Training
Institutions Agency is the
sole organization to offer
accreditation to colleges, but
its services are only available
to private colleges. The
PCTIA requires registration
from any school whose
programs exceed 40 hours,
and whose tuition is greater
than $1,000.
The
PCTIA requires
accreditation for any school
that wishes its students to be
eligible for StudentAid BC,
but the foreign students that
colleges are so desperate to
attract aren't eligible for this
assistance. Of the 471 schools
registered by PCTIA, only
198 have gone through the
process.
Still, Lee said that when
prospective students overseas
look to Canada, the only
accredited schools they'll
see are private colleges, and
this gives them an edge over
public institutions.
That can be especially
misleading
for
students
coming from places with weak
public education systems.
"In many countries the best
institutions are private," Lee
said.
Lee has reviewed PCTIA's
process, which his public
college is not eligible for, and
said that it is, "not as rigorous
or in-depth" as the American
process.
Only o~e other Canadian
school has completed the
American
accreditation
process. Alberta 1s Athabasca
University is accredited by the
Middle States Commission on
Higher Learning.