Challenge and Opportunity This page intentionally left blank Edited by John D. Dennison Challenge and Opportunity: Canada's Community Colleges at the Crossroads UBCPress /Vancouver ©UBC Press 1995 Reprinted 1996 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in Canada on acid-free paper °° ISBN 0-7748-0516-1 Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Main entry under title: Challenge and opportunity Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7748-0516-1 1. Community colleges - Canada. 2. Postsecondary education - Canada. I. DennisonJohnD., 1929- LB2328.C52 1995 378'.052'0971 C95-910106-3 UBC Press gratefully acknowledges the ongoing support to its publishing program from the Canada Council, the Province of British Columbia Cultural Services Branch, and the Department of Communications of the Government of Canada. Set in Stone by Irma Rodriguez, Artegraphica Design Co. Printed and bound in Canada by D.W. Friesen & Sons Ltd. Copy-editor: Joanne Richardson Proofreader: Anne Webb UBC Press University of British Columbia 6344 Memorial Road Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2 (604) 822-3259 Fax: (604) 822-6083 Contents Acknowledgments / vii Introduction / 3 John D. Dennison 1 Community College Development in Canada since 1985 /13 John D. Dennison 2 The Challenge of Leadership / 105 John Levin 3 Organization and Function in Postsecondary Education / 121 John D. Dennison 4 Organizational Culture and Community Colleges / 141 Starr L. Owen 5 Values in the Canadian Community College: Conflict and Compromise / 169 John D. Dennison 6 A Matter of Survival: Emerging Entrepreneurship in Community Colleges in Canada / 184 Janet Knowles 7 Aboriginal Education in Community Colleges / 208 Douglas Baker vi Contents 8 Accountability: Mission Impossible? / 220 John D. Dennison 9 The DACUM Technique and Competency-Based Education / 243 Charles W. Joyner 10 Promise Fulfilled, Promise Pending / 256 Paul Gallagher Conclusion / 275 John D. Dennison Index / 285 Acknowledgments This book could not have been written without the generous assistance of a number of colleagues who gave freely of their time and expertise to ensure that the final product would be an important addition to the literature on community colleges in Canada. First, however, I wish to acknowledge the support of the Canadian Studies Directorate of the Secretary of State. This organization supplied the initial impetus for a project designed to docu- ment the performance of a uniquely Canadian educational enterprise - its public community colleges. To report accurately and comprehensively on the wide range of develop- ments in the community college sector in each province and territory since 1985, it was crucial to draw upon the expertise of a cadre of individuals in each region of Canada. The following willingly contributed their time and knowledge: British Columbia: Kerry Jothen and Shell Harvey, Ministry of Skills, Training and Labour Alberta: Bill Workman and Larry Orton, Ministry of Advanced Education Saskatchewan: John Biss, Ministry of Education; Andrew Mirlin, Northwest Regional College Manitoba: Tony Knowles, Red River Community College Ontario: Ian Calvert, formally at the Association of Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology of Ontario; Robert (Squee) Gordon, Humber College; Patricia Groves, George Brown College; Glen Jones, Brock University Quebec: Andre Le Blanc (who provided the entire section on Quebec), Champlain Regional College Nova Scotia: Jack Buckley and Dermot Mulrooney, Nova Scotia Community College Prince Edward Island: Chris Bryant and Archie MacFadyen, Holland College New Brunswick: Jim Cromwell and Jack Syroid, New Brunswick Community College viii Acknowledgments Newfoundland: Doug Fowlow, Westviking College; Andrea Dicks, Depart- ment of Education Yukon: Aron Senkpiel, Yukon College Northwest Territories: Mark Cleveland, Arctic College As a consequence of reviewing college development region by region, a number of common and significant issues emerged which seemed destined to dominate the role of Canada's community colleges during the next dec- ade. A number of these issues were referred to individuals who had both the expertise and the experience to deal with them. To those who willingly and enthusiastically contributed chapters on these issues, I owe a deep debt of gratitude and wish to acknowledge each one individually. John Levin, a former college instructor and administrator, is now a profes- sor of higher education at the University of Arizona. He represents a new generation of scholars, which is directing its attention to the many issues facing postsecondary education in Canada and elsewhere. Starr L. Owen also has extensive experience as a college teacher and is now pursuing a new career as a scholar in the field of higher education. Janet Knowles has worked in several provinces developing links between postsecondary education and the business sector. She is now manager of contract services at Douglas College. Her chapter on entrepreneurship was written with the able assistance of Colleen Hawkey. Douglas Baker has been involved in the college sector in many capacities in many provinces and was formerly the president of Nicola Valley Techni- cal Institute, a predominantly First Nations college in British Columbia. He is now at Northwest Community College. Charles W. Joyner has extensive experience and expertise in competency- based education. He is now engaged in international activities with the Association of Canadian Community Colleges in Ottawa. Paul Gallagher has dedicated most of his professional life, as an adminis- trator, scholar, writer, teacher, and critical observer, to the promotion and advancement of the community college concept in Canada. He is the au- thor of innumerable articles dealing with many aspects of Canadian educa- tion and is, above all, a valued friend and colleague. Finally, although their names appear above, there are three people who deserve special mention. Paul Gallagher served as a critical reviewer for many chapters and provided a great deal of helpful comment; Douglas Baker gath- ered a good deal of the material on several regions and wrote some of the early drafts; and Andre Le Blanc was, as always, an invaluable resource on colleges in Quebec. Introduction John D. Dennison Given their creation in the 1960s and 1970s and their attainment of matu- rity twenty-five years later, Canada's community colleges may be described as having grown old quickly. Although the idealism of their early years has been replaced by pressures to maintain relevancy and stability in a difficult political and fiscal environment, the colleges continue to play an impor- tant role in the social and economic life of this nation. The 1994 statistical profile of the college sector is impressive. In all, the approximately 150 in- stitutions which fall under the rubric of community colleges deliver educa- tion and training through more than 700 satellite campuses and other cen- tres. Although variations in instructor classification occur among the provinces and territories, approximately 25,000 full-time and over 150,000 part-time personnel teach in the college sector. The student population is even less well defined, but the most recent statistics from the Department of the Secretary of State (Canada 1991) indicate that about 500,000 stu- dents are enrolled in credit programs in colleges. However, it is estimated that an additional 1.5 million students are enrolled in credit-free continu- ing education. Two-thirds of the credit program enrollees are full-time students, while the remainder attend on a part-time basis. In some provinces, colleges offer both pre-university or university-equiva- lent courses as well as academic upgrading and technical/career prepara- tion. About one-third of all students, both full- and part-time, are enrolled in university-related courses. While the majority of full-time students in the college sector are women (54 per cent), males outnumber females by a ratio of two to one among full-time instructional staff. In fiscal terms, the community college sector has grown into an enter- prise with an annual operating budget of $6 billion, while its capital assets are valued at $30 billion. The return from investment in Canadian colleges is partly reflected in an estimate which states that 25 per cent of the na- tion's workforce holds college credentials (Price Waterhouse 1993). In terms