Bridge Program (higher Education) - Future Direction

Future Direction

Once again, Ontario is in the midst of an unprecedented increase in the number of post-secondary student applicants that is threatening to overpopulate the current structure of higher education in the province. It is projected that the number of students enrolled in Ontario post-secondary institutions may increase by 100,000 by the year 2021. Much like the climate of 1965, Ontario needs to find another solution to accommodate the demands of these increasing numbers, and bridge programs may be the ideal way to streamline applicants. Bridge programs still meet the increased interest in a university degree, but provide alternate pathways for achieving this degree that will not exceed first year university enrolment allowances.

A more realistic transition from the dualistic post-secondary pathways that currently exist in Ontario, to a collaborative pathway would be to develop a completely new curriculum for the bridge program, rather than trying to fit together already existing diploma and degree programs that were never meant to be connected. Ad hoc committees based on subject discipline should be formed among college and university faculty across the province to share best practices, and develop an integrated curriculum. In this approach, college and university faculty can work together to create a comprehensive knowledge base that they both believe in, and neither will feel threatened that their existing program will be overshadowed or become obsolete. Having faculty work together to develop curriculum requirements will also hopefully help to abolish stereotypes and the elitist attitudes that were credited as the strongest inhibitor to the creation of bridge programs, and help to build a sense of congeniality among education professionals.

The creation of the Ontario Council for Articulation and Transfer and the online Ontario College-University Transfer Guide was definitely a step in the right direction, however the existing agreements listed have a limited scope of program choice, and do not provide a list of guaranteed college credits that can be transferred. The province needs to move toward creating a universal transfer guide that allows students graduating from a diploma program the ability to transfer to any university with a similar degree program by meeting the same requirements for every institution, and receiving the same amount of transfer credits at each institution. This transfer guide should also be easily accessible by students so that they can make informed choices in their course planning and be informed of the number of transfer credits they can receive before they actually apply to an institution. To initiate a move toward universal transfer, the province can first focus on establishing a few core arts and science courses at the college level that would result in direct transfer to university credit at every Ontario university. College faculty can work in conjunction with university faculty to create course curriculum that is comparable to first year general arts and science credits (such as psychology, English, math, history etc.) that the majority of incoming university students are required to take, thus easing the transition process greatly.

Finally, Ontario should look to the successful practice of post-secondary transfer in other provinces, most notably British Columbia, but also Alberta and New Brunswick, as a framework from which to build a comprehensive transfer program. In these already well-established systems, students are able to transfer credit toward a bachelor’s degree from any institution in the province, and know exactly how many transfer credits they will receive before they officially apply to another institution. While Ontario has a long way to go before reaching this level of compatibility, it can definitely benefit from modeling the degree of government, administrative and faculty coordination evident within the post-secondary systems of the above- mentioned provinces.