THE At:::ADEltIC 001\RD FOR HI'-;HER EDUCATION ADVICE REGARDING REGIONAL COLLEGES COi.1MENCIN'.J IN TB\\PORAR'{ PRDAI SES In keeping with the Acad emic Board ' s statutory powers to advise the appropriate authorities on order ly dev el opment of colleges established under the Publi c Schools Act , the following it.ems are s ubmitted for consideration by regional college planning committ ees. Reg ard less of loc a l plans, the conditions for t he establishment of regional colleges as s et forth in the Public Schools Act shoul d be adhered to in every r espect , Any institutions established outside these te r ms would no t receive recognition as a regio nal coll ege as defined by the Act. Opening a r egiona l collei;ie in a s econd ary school or other temp orary pr emises is at best a temp or ary expedi ent unt il more sui tab le premises become available. The only justifi cat ion for such an arrangement is that each year t he opening is del~yed many secondary-school graduates are deprived of the opportunity to continue their education at the post-s e condary level , However , there s hould be no presumption on the part of the planning committee or college council that s uch oc cupancy can defer the immedi ate planning and promp t provision of suit abl e college prem is es . Although coll ege premises need no t be elaborate, the public should be dissuaded f rom any i mpression that the college can manage all right in s chool p r emises for a protracted period . No college can attain i t s full statu re and i de ntity as long as it shares s econdary-s choo l premis es . There ar e s evera l conditions that should be given the most careful considerat ion by those plannina to op en i regiona l college . Some of t hese are briefly outlined below, and the Academic Board is available for any further cons ult ation that may be needed to elucidate such matters . 1, Colleae e~rolmo~ts Being loc ated in a secondary s chool may lead to some fal s e i mpressions regarding the educational purpose and nature of a colleg e , A col l ege is much more th an si mp ly a means whereby student s may obtain credits in a number of courses . Also it s hould be s tressed t hat the colleg e program is no mere addition to or extension of the se condaryschool progr am . A coll e£e is a separate ins t i tution with its own distinct ive i dent ity beyond the secondary-school l eve l and s hould not be confus ed with any i dea of Grad es 13 and 14 . One i mportant consideration in est ab lishing such i dentity is to define the stud ent s for whom the coll ege is established . \ College enrol me nts s hould be limited t o se nior s econdary- s:hool graduates, and those v~o l ack not more th an two subj0cts of comp let e gr aduation . Some excep t ions may be made for students over 20 years of age, but the collese should avoid being r egarded as an a l ternat ive means for obtaining s econdary- schoo l graduat io n. Only those s tudents whose s econdarys chool records indicate that they are likely to succe ed in a coll2~e program ·- 2 - sh ou l d be admi tted . Others ca n s eek educat i onal op po r tu nit i es th roug h co rr espon~ence or dayt i me and eve ning s ec onda ry-sch ool cours es, or at a voc at i ona l s choo l. Too much l eniency in admi t t ing stude nt s ma ke s i t di ff icu l t f br a coll ege t o ma i ntain acceptab l e educationa l st andards , and works to the dis ad vant age of th e st udent s for whom the college progr am is design ed . 2. The Colleg e .F aculty The colleg~ faculty in Arts and Scienc e must be fully qualified to provide instruction that is equivalent to first and s e cond ye ar university work. If circums ta nces shoul d force the college during the first year of its operation to offer only first-ye ar courses, it is still essential that any appointments to the faculty should be c apable of instructing at the second-year l ev el. The appointment of unsuita bly qualified people, even on temporary terms, c an make for emb arrass me nt as the college develops. The minimal academic qualificat ion for those who teach academic subj e cts shoul d normally be 2n 1'\.A , or i.LSc, in their teaching subjects, or a recent ly obt ained honour s degree with high s t anding in their teaching subjects. In addi t ion, those who ar e appointed sho~ld give evid enc e of their continu ed development in t heir fields of speciali ~ation as indicated by their participa tion in schol arly associations, their knowl edge of current , scholarly books and journals, and their familiarity with recent developments in t heir fields. These considera.tions are of more significance when selecting f acul t y than is teaching experienc e because they show an alert and scholarly attitude . Also , it has been found that inservice training conduc t ed by senior members of the college faculty is an effective means for readily overcoming any lack of teaching experience. The selection of s enior administrat ive staff is likewise of great importance , The college principal should have superior acad emic qualifications and some record of scholarly work. He should be supported by other comp etent staff such as a registrar , li brarian and dire ctor of studies. The success of a college dep ends above all upon the quality of the faculty and st aff who are ap pointed at the outset, and expert advic e should be sou ght from persons competent in v arious fields when selecting those to be appointed . Those ini t i a lly appoint ed will lar ge ly direct the development of the colle( e, co ns eq ue ntly a core of well - qualified , fulltime membe rs of the facul t y shoul d be appoint ed at th e ou t se t who will be engaged in many college activi t ies beyond th eir classroom te aching . Any persons appoint ed on a part -ti me basis should b~ given no assurance of continuing exc ept on a year- to-ye ar basis . The app ointment of te ache r s on a part- t i me basis who ar e actively eng ug ed in se condary-s ch ool te achin9 is not lik e ly to p rovid e the lev e l of instruc tion w ich wou l d be ac cepted by Universiti es as the equivalent of firs t and s eco nd ye ar uni versity •:1ork. Th e instruction provid ed in a colleg e differs in a numbe r of important .ways from any that is given in a - 3 - seconda ry school, a l thoug h s cne secondar y-school tea chers may fail to r ea lize th e diff e renc e . Eve ~ Gr ade 13 is larg e ly a continuation beyond Grade 12, wh erea s t he first ye ar of univ ersity marks a very significant tr ans ition in t he educat i onal de ve lopment of th e stud ent s. Fo~ most stud ents, univ e rsi t y is a def init e turning point .in the ir approach to s tudy; unfortuna te ly some student s fail to adjust to the different educational environment and f al l by the way even though they possess the ability to suc ceed . Consequently , i t is essential that college students taking first or second year college level courses should be taught in a manner that will enable them to fit readily into s econd or th ird year univ ersity courses. University courses are not closely prescribed and in both content and method they depend in very large msasure upon the pe rsonal i nitiative and intellectual scope of the teachers, Lengthy written assignments , wide reading , i ndependent inv estigat ion, tutorial sessions and teacher-s tudent consultations are integral features of college ins truction . All of this requires constant preparation and st udy by the teachers to keep abreast of developments in their f iel ds . 3. Premises and facilities A colle ge can commence operations in simple quarter s , but preferably in a separate s tructure devoted wholly to college purposes . If a college commences in secondary-school premises , the provision of suit ab l e facilities will undoubtedly present some problems . An adequate college li brary is essential and relatively l arge expenditures for books and schol arly publications are necessary well before instruction is commenced. The li brary resources for a college are very different from those for a secondary school, and much more expensive . Careful p lan niny is necessary fro m the outset in order to procure a proper selection of source and reference materials , and advice should be obtained from the libr aria ns of the universi ties and the British Columbia Institute of Techno lo gy . The ini t ial acquisitions should amount to about 10 , 000 volumes, to be kept up to date by a systematic pl~n for additions that usually h ave to be pro cured each month . The procurement of books and periodicals should be commenced well in advance of the time for college opening. The college li brary s hould be accessible to col l ege students during a large ~art of each day , because col l ege students will not f ind s uff i cient time to consult reference ~aterials and do library study during the li mi ted hours when the school premises are being used exclusive ly for co ll ege cl asses . Adequate study space, free from interruptions, is necessary for stud ents to do the amoun t of ind ependent work that is required for college lev e l courses. /:\any s t udents '!Jho live at home find i t i mpossib l e to have conditions that are condu cive to conc e nt rated study ove r long per i od s of ti me . Science l aboratories will have t o be equipped fo r colleg e level courses , and , because of de lays in de l i ve ry, la boratory supp li e s and equip ment must be order ed well in advance of th e commencem e nt of college co~rses . - 4 - Th e premises assi gned t o the coll ere shoul d be wholly devot ed to the wo rk of the college durin9 the hour s when coll e~e cours es are in s ession. As f ar as possi bl e th e area occup i ed by t he coll ege shou ld be distinguished fr om other s pace s o t h at t he co l lc9e may have s ome id enti t y of its own even tho ugh loc ated in schoo l premis es . I t should be made clear from th e st art that ther e is no in te nt ion to have th e colleg e occupy the school preMis e s indefinitely and, if possible, a terminal date should be announced. 4. College cours es District and re~ional colleges are required by statute to provide two years of university tuition and such other courses, principally at the post-second ary level? as may be deemed desirable , Some of the latter courses are desirable in order to meet the educational purpose of the college . The range of courses that is necessary to parallel the first two years of university tuition is wider than that required for Grade 13 , although it will not include all of the first and second year courses 0iven by a universi t y . The advice of university deans, heads of departments and college faculty memb~rs should be sought when planning the courses in Arts and Science. Repres entatives of business and industry and of the British Columbia Institute of Technology should be consulted when planning the technical program . With the secondary-school premises available for co l lege classes on only a part-time basis , the struct ure of the curriculum and the timetabling of courses is of particul~r importance i f students ar~ to obtain adequate i nstruction in a full program of college s t udies. Also the arrangement of the ti me of t he teaching staff needs very c areful planning so that faculty members May provide classroom instruction and give individual attention to their students without having to adhere to an ex~essive schedule which would li mit their own development as college teachers . Those who are appointed to the coll ege faculty should be active participants and given a major responsibili t y in designing the curricula , s election of text books and all other matters pertaining to college instruction , 5. Financinq Some of the more op t imis t ic assump tions regarding f inancial savings to be made from operating in second ary- school premises are t1ndou bt edly misleading, It is true tha~ a larc e capital out lay for college buildings c an be deferred for a short tir .e. Nevertheless, c ap ital expenditures for library, laborat o~i e s and the refitting of school premises wi ll be required on a consid era ble sc a le . However , the largest expenditure will be for sal ari e s. The qu a li t y of the coll ege faculty is fully as import ant - i f not more so - wh en operating in school pr emises as when in a s ep ~rate coll ege building design ed for t he purpose. The less suitable the premises are, the gre ater are the demands mad e upon th e fac ulty . Consequently, - 5 - a major financial commitment is necessary for the procurement of suita bly qualified facu l ty, and this must be provided we ll in advance of any propos ed date f or openin