Established | 2005 [1] |
---|---|
President | Janice M. Deakin, PhD |
Address | 88 Queen's Quay West, Suite 2500, Toronto, Ontario M5J 0B6 , , , Canada |
Website | http://www.heqco.ca/ |
The Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) is a provincial agency funded by the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities (MCU). The goal of the agency is to provide recommendations for improving quality, accessibility, inter-institutional transfer, system planning, and effectiveness in higher education in Ontario. The Council was founded in 2005 through the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario Act. [2] [3]
In 2005, Bob Rae released a comprehensive review of postsecondary education entitled Ontario: A leader in learning, more commonly known as the Rae Report or Rae Review. The report included a recommendation to change the structure of higher education in Ontario by adding an independent and objective Council on Higher Education to monitor the dynamic changes of postsecondary institutions in order to provide advice to government on the overall system. [4] [5] The provincial government acted on this recommendation and created an independent advisory agency to provide assessment and advice to improve higher education in Ontario. [6] In 2005, the provincial government established the Council through the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario Act and appointed Frank Iacobucci as its Chair. The formation of the Council was part of the provincial government's Reaching Higher six-year plan for higher education. [7] [8] In January 2007, the Council announced the appointment of James Downey as its first president. [9]
The following people have served as President and CEO of HEQCO:
Janice M. Deakin – August 2020 – [10]
David Trick (Interim) – September 2019 – July 2020 [11]
Harvey P. Weingarten – July 2010 – September 2019 [12]
Ken Norrie (Acting) – April 2010 – July 2010 [13]
James Downey – January 2007 – March 2010 [14]
HEQCO is governed by a board of directors who are responsible for setting the overall strategic direction of the council as well as ensuring that its activities remain aligned with its mandate. Board members are appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council pursuant to the Higher Education Council of Ontario Act, 2005. [15]
Shelley McGill (acting) (2023) [16]
Karin Schnarr (2022-2023) [17]
Pat Lang (acting) (2021) [18]
Sue Herbert (acting) (2021) [19]
A. Scott Carson (acting) (2020-2021) [20]
Denis Mayer (2019–2020) [21]
Nobina Robinson (2019) [22]
Alastair Summerlee (2015–2018) [23]
Cindy Dundon Hazell (Interim) (2014–2015) [24]
Elizabeth Dowdeswell (2012–2014) [25]
Frank Iacobucci, C.C., Q.C. (2006–2012) [26]
The Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario employs a multifaceted research approach with a view to developing meaningful policy recommendations and publishing reports and other publications that inform the postsecondary education community in Ontario, Canada and around the world. To date, more than 275 research papers and reports have been produced, with new reports continually being published. The Council's research publications are available on their website. [27]
HEQCO's current research priorities include:
The Council has hosted workshops, conferences, webinars and other events to further its research agenda and contribute to the higher-education sector. HEQCO held annual conferences from 2011 to 2018. [28]
Ontario Tech University (OTU), also known as Ontario Tech, is a public research university located in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus is located on approximately 160 hectares of land in northern Oshawa, while its secondary satellite campus is situated in downtown Oshawa. The university is a co-educational institution that operates seven academic faculties.
Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD, is a public art university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus is spread throughout several buildings and facilities within downtown Toronto. The university is a co-educational institution which operates three academic faculties, the Faculty of Art, the Faculty of Arts and Science, and the Faculty of Design. The university also provides continuing education services through its School of Continuing Studies.
Frank Iacobucci is a former Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada from 1991 until his retirement from the bench in 2004. He was the first Italian-Canadian, allophone judge on the court. Iacobucci was also the first judge on the Supreme Court to have been born, raised and educated in British Columbia. Iacobucci has had a distinguished career in private practice, academia, the civil service and the judiciary.
The Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) (French: Régime d'aide financière aux étudiantes et étudiants de l'Ontario ) is a provincial financial aid program that offers grants and loans to help Ontario students pay for their post-secondary education. OSAP determines the amount of money that a student is eligible to receive by considering factors such as tuition, course load, and the financial resources of the student. More than 380,000 students – more than half of all full-time students –received student financial aid in 2014-15.
The Attorney General of Ontario is the chief legal adviser to His Majesty the King in Right of Ontario and, by extension, the Government of Ontario. The Attorney General is a senior member of the Executive Council of Ontario and oversees the Ministry of the Attorney General – the department responsible for the oversight of the justice system in the province of Ontario. The Attorney General is an elected Member of Provincial Parliament who is appointed by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario on the constitutional advice of the Premier of Ontario.
The Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) is a Crown agency of the Government of Ontario in Canada. It was legislated into creation in 1996 in response to recommendations made by the Royal Commission on Learning in February 1995.
The Kingston Memorial Centre is a 3,300-seat multi-purpose arena located at 303 York Street in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Opened in 1951, the Kingston Community Memorial Health and Recreation Centre was designed as a community sports and entertainment centre that would become a "living memorial" in remembrance of Kingstonians who gave their life in both world wars and the Korean War. The Memorial Centre lands and facilities include a war memorial, a large ice pad in the arena building, a new outdoor aquatic centre, agricultural barns, softball diamonds, a cinder track, off leash dog park and a linear park at the east, north and west perimeter of the property. Just east of the arena building was the International Hockey Hall of Fame (IHHOF) museum building at 277 York St. In July 2012, Kingston City Council approved the relocation of the collection on a short-term basis to the Invista Centre on Gardiners Road in Kingston. The existing building was found to have costly repair issues related to moisture penetration. It was demolished after the IHHOF moved to the Invista Centre in Kingston's west end.
The Ministry of Colleges and Universities is the ministry of the Government of Ontario responsible for administration of laws relating to post-secondary education. This ministry is one of two education ministries, the other being the Ministry of Education. The Ministry's offices are in downtown Toronto. The current minister is Jill Dunlop.
The Ontario Student Trustees' Association, officially branded as OSTA-AECO, is a registered nonprofit, nonpartisan organization and the largest student stakeholder group in Ontario. The organization's members are student trustees from school boards across the province.
Sir Gareth Gwyn Roberts was a Welsh physicist specialising in semiconductors and molecular electronics, who was influential in British science policy through his chairmanship of several academic bodies and his two reports on the future supply of scientists and how university research should be assessed. He was knighted in 1997 for his services to higher education.
Education in Ontario comprises public and private primary and secondary schools and post-secondary institutions. Publicly funded elementary and secondary schools are administered by the Ontario Ministry of Education, while colleges and universities are administered by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. The current respective Ministers for each are Stephen Lecce and Ross Romano. The province's public education system is primarily funded by the Government of Ontario, with education in Canada falling almost entirely under provincial jurisdiction. There is no federal government department or agency involved in the formation or analysis of policy regarding education for most Canadians. Schools for Indigenous people in Canada with Indian status are the only schools that are funded federally, and although the schools receive more money per individual student than certain provinces, the amount also includes the operation and maintenance of school facilities, instructional services, students supports and staff. Most provincial allocations per students do not include the maintenance and operation of buildings, as most provincial governments offer additional grants.
Higher education in Ontario includes postsecondary education and skills training regulated by the Ministry of Colleges and Universities and provided by universities, colleges of applied arts and technology, and private career colleges. The current minister is Jill Dunlop who was appointed in June 2021. The ministry administers laws covering 22 public universities, 24 public colleges, 17 privately funded religious universities, and over 500 private career colleges. 18 of the top 50 research universities in Canada are in Ontario.
Higher education in Canada includes provincial, territorial, indigenous and military higher education systems. The goal of Canadian higher education is to give every Canadian the chance to gain the skills and knowledge they need to reach their fullest potential. It builds a world-class workforce, increases the number of Canadians working, and secures Canada's long-term prosperity. Higher education programs are crafted from the employee's viewpoint in mind, aiming to minimize risks and providing guaranteed outcomes.
Newfoundland and Labrador has had the same growing pains as other provinces in developing its own form of education and now boasts a very strong, although relatively small, system. The direction of Newfoundland and Labrador's policy has evolved rapidly since the late 1990s, with increased funding, participation rates, accessibility and transferability. Many of the directives the government has been acting upon in the past 10 years have been a result of recommendations that stemmed from a 2005 white paper: Foundation for Success: White Paper on Public Post-Secondary Education. It set the course for furthering the strategic directives of the provincial post-secondary education sector. Some of its recommendations aimed to:
Historically, Saskatchewan's higher education system has been "significantly shaped" by demographics. In 1901, six years prior to the 1907 founding of a university in Saskatchewan, the urban population in Saskatchewan was 14,266 (16%) while the rural population was 77,013 (84%). One hundred years later, the proportions had changed significantly: urban population in 2001 was 629,036 (64%) while the rural population was 349,897 (36%). Over time the province's higher education system has changed significantly in response both to this demographic shift and to provincial politics.
Higher education in New Brunswick refers to education provided by higher education institutions in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Higher education has a rich history in New Brunswick. The first English-language university in Canada was the University of New Brunswick. Mount Allison University was the first in the British Empire to award a baccalaureate to a woman, Grace Annie Lockhart, B.Sc. in 1875. Education is the responsibility of the provinces in Canada and there is no federal ministry governing it.
Higher education in Nova Scotia refers to education provided by higher education institutions. In Canada, education is the responsibility of the provinces and there is no Canadian federal ministry governing education. Nova Scotia has a population of less than one million people, but is home to ten public universities and the Nova Scotia Community College, which offers programs at 13 locations.
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The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) is a Canadian non-profit organization that represents 17,000 teachers, researchers, and librarians through its interaction with the Ontario government, opposition parties, related agencies, and associations. OCUFA assists its twenty-eight member faculty associations with the coordination of media relations and research for collective bargaining and provides its members with a discount program through Edvantage. OCUFA also publishes Academic Matters, a biannual journal that covers higher education topics across Canada, and a weekly electronic newsletter, OCUFA Report, with specific content for Ontario members.