A government bill now before the B.C. legislature promises tough new quality standards for hundreds of private career-training institutions, ending more than a decade of self-regulation.
The bill received second reading this week after New Democrat MLAs welcomed the changes, saying government should have acted long ago on concerns that some shady operators were ripping off students and hurting the B.C. education brand at home and abroad.
“(B.C.’s) reputation has taken a real hit,” the NDP’s Kathy Corrigan told the legislature. “We had a lot of bad apples, really bad schools . . . not being monitored and watched by this government under this self-regulation.”
Private language schools, which are not currently regulated by government, will also have to meet new quality standards if they intend to enroll international students for programs lasting six months or longer.
While promising higher standards for all schools, the government said the bill – called the Private Training Act – will actually reduce the regulatory burden for schools that have a history of good quality programs and compliance with the rules.
The bill also provides improved enforcement tools and better student protection.
Once passed, it will dissolve the Private Career Training Institutions Agency (PCTIA), which has been the self-regulating agency since 2004. Its functions will be transferred to the Advanced Education Ministry.
The decision to improve quality standards in B.C. goes hand-in-hand with a federal move to tackle fraud in the international student program. Citizenship and Immigration Canada said non-genuine students were abusing the program to gain entry to Canada, some institutions were aiding them by acting as visa mills and others were taking advantage of genuine students by offering unauthorized programs.
By the end of this year, private career training institutions that want to enroll international students must have quality approval from the province. The Advanced Education Ministry said it expects a considerable number of language schools to also pursue quality certificates.
Advanced Education Minister Andrew Wilkinson said the government was changing the governance model for private institutions because the post-secondary sector has become more complex and much more international.
But Corrigan said problems with self-regulation have been evident for many years. She noted that in 2007, after a scandal forced the closure of Kingston College in Vancouver, the Chinese government urged its students to avoid private post-secondary schools in Canada because of potential rip-offs.
“The legacy is a mess,” she stated.
But a spokesman for one private language school has urged government to be careful in applying pressure to language schools, adding that they’re responsible, directly and indirectly, for $3 billion in economic activity in B.C. every year and employ 24,000 British Columbians.
“All of this economic activity . . . could be lost if the province does not take steps to allow the industry to flourish and innovate rather than add over-burdening regulations, hurdles and debilitating taxes and fees,” Jonathan Kolber, executive director of the International Language Academy of Canada, warned in an opinion piece last month.
About 100,000 international students attend public post-secondary, private post-secondary and language schools in B.C., with half that number in language schools.
