Questioning the Minister on Private Colleges
Teresa J. Armstrong: My question is for the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities. Yesterday, the Auditor General’s report shows that Ontarians are paying thousands of dollars in tuition fees to attend private career colleges, but often end up with subpar training and few job prospects.
The government has known about quality problems at colleges for years. But, today, colleges that were supposed to be closed down continue to illegally operate and colleges have repeatedly violated regulations, such as instructor qualifications going uninspected. Why is this government failing to protect the 60,000 Ontarians who attend private career colleges?
Hon. Glen R. Murray: Thanks very much. I appreciate the question from my honourable friend opposite. First of all, out of the 60,000 students in the system most get a very high-quality education. Second of all, we have now covered off all of the colleges determined to be high risk—have been fully inspected. We have expanded our inspection program. All high-risk schools will be inspected within three months. Those being identified as medium-risk schools, which is the level we are now at—within the next 24 months. We are under one of the most aggressive expansions of our inspections program. We have gotten through all of the high-risk colleges. We are now in the middle of going through the mid-medium-risk colleges. We can ensure Ontarians that the over 400 training colleges and private sector schools will be well managed.
Teresa J. Armstrong: In 2006, the government passed Private Career Colleges Act and claimed it would get tough on career colleges. But today, the ministry still has only eight inspectors for 470 colleges, and it has only inspected 30 campuses last year despite identifying 180 ??risks of violating basic educational standards. Taxpayers have subsidized these colleges to the tune of half a billion dollars over the last three years. When will the government finally hire the inspectors it needs and ensure students at career colleges get the training that they pay for and they expect?
Hon. Glen R. Murray: Mr. Speaker, we have actually done considerably more than that. In the first nine months of this year alone, over 100 actions have been taken against illegal operators. That’s ??the most aggressive enforcement in the history of this province, better than ??what the party opposite ever did when they were in power. The ministry has also developed a student satisfaction survey for students affected by a school closure and protected under the training completion assurance fund, the TCAF. The survey is in use and was issued to the first group of students in November. The ministry has recently completed a comprehensive review of the performance measures of the collection process and has developed six performance indicators for the private career college sector.
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