HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

1 Section 4 of the Private Career Training Institutions Act, S.B.C. 2003, c. 79 is amended by repealing subsection 4 (2) and replacing it with the following:

4  (2) The members appointed under subsection (1) service until a date to be established by the bylaw and after that date the board consists of

(a) a majority of members appointed by the minister; and

(b) at least two members from

(i) a private career training institute;

(ii) the Ministry of Advanced Education or its successor; and

(iii) a provincial student organization.

2 Section 5 of the Private Career Training Institutions Act, S.B.C. 2003, c. 79 is amended by adding the following subsection:

5  (6) The board must conduct investigations into student complaints.

3 Section 6 (1) of the Private Career Training Institutions Act, S.B.C. 2003, c. 79 is amended by adding the following subsection:

(r) establish and publish guidelines for conducting investigations into student complaints in accordance with this Act.

4 The Private Career Training Institutions Act, S.B.C. 2003, c. 79 is amended by adding the following section:

Tuition Refund

19.1  (1) If

(a) a non-registered institution provides or offers to provide career training,

(b) a registered institution that is not an accredited institution represents itself or allows itself to be represented as being approved by the government or accredited by the agency, or

(c) in the opinion of the board a student was misled as a result of a representation made by an institution or its agent regarding the institution or any aspect of its operations

on the request of the student, the institution must refund the total fees paid by the student within 30 days of the date of the request and must not retain any portion as an administration or other type of fee.

(2) A refund required to be made under subsection (1) is recoverable as a simple contract debt.

(3) A letter purporting to be signed by the registrar stating that, at the date the fees were paid, the institution was not registered under this Act is evidence of that fact is admissible without proof of the signature of the person who signed it.

5 Section 1 of the Degree Authorization Act, S.B.C. 2002, c. 24, is amended by adding the following definitions:

"authorized out-of-province degree-granting institution" means a person that

(a) is authorized to grant degrees by an enactment of the legislature of a Canadian province or territory other than British Columbia;

(b) has accreditation to grant degrees in the United States of America from an accrediting agency recognized by the United States Secretary of Education; or

(c) is authorized to grant degrees by an enactment of a legislature or has accreditation to grant degrees from a government-recognized accrediting agency of a country other than Canada or the United States of America.

"board" means the Degree Quality Assessment Board; .

6 Section 4 (1) of the Degree Authorization Act, S.B.C. 2002, c. 24 is repealed and the following substituted:

4  (1) The minister must not give an applicant consent to do things described in subsection 3 (1) and (2) unless

(a) the minister is satisfied that the applicant has undergone a quality assessment process by the board;

(b) the board has recommended that the minister give consent; and

(c) the minister is satisfied that an applicant has been found to meet the additional criteria established under subsection (2) of this section.

7 Section 4 of the Degree Authorization Act, S.B.C. 2002, c. 24, is amended by adding the following subsection:

4  (1.1) In addition to the requirements under subsection (1), in the case of out-of-province applicants, the minister must be satisfied that the applicant is an authorized out-of-province degree granting institution as defined by this Act.

8 The Degree Authorization Act, S.B.C. 2002, c. 24, is amended by adding the following sections:

Degree Quality Assessment Board

4.2  (1) The Degree Quality Assessment Board has the following objects:

(a) to provide consumer protection to students and prospective students.

(b) to ensure only the highest quality educational institutions receive degree-granting status or may use the word "university" or any derivation or abbreviation of that word to refer to their institutions.

(2) The Degree Quality Assessment Board must

(a) assess the quality of all applications to do those things described in Section 3 (1) or (2); and

(b) make a recommendation to the minister as to whether or not to grant consent to a person to do those things described in Section 3 (1) or (2).

(3) Subject to the regulations, the board must establish and publish criteria for assessing the quality of the applications under subsection (1).

Composition of the Board

4.3  (1) The minister may appoint not more than

(a) 11 voting members of the board; and

(b) three non-voting ex-officio members of the board.

(2) The board must consist of, at minimum:

(a) two members who are not employed by a university, university college, college, institute or other educational institution that grants degrees or offers education programs leading to the granting of a degree in British Columbia or elsewhere;

(b) two members who are employed by or represent any public university or college with degree-granting status located in British Columbia;

(c) two members who are employed by or represent any private university or college with degree granting status incorporated in British Columbia;

(d) two members from any governing association of a public university or college in British Columbia.

(3) The following persons shall be non-voting, ex-officio members of the board:

(a) The Assistant Deputy Minister of the Post-Secondary Education Division of the Ministry of Advanced Education;

(b) The Executive Director of the British Columbia Council on Admissions and Transfer; and

(c) The President of the University Presidents' Council of British Columbia.

 
Explanatory Notes

This Bill will provide for greater accountability and protection for students who attend or plan to attend private colleges in British Columbia.

This Bill amends the Private Career Training Institutions Act by

• Providing that Private Career Training Institutions Agency be composed of members representing private career training institutes, the provincial government and a provincial student organization.
• Empowering and mandating the Private Career Training Agency to conduct investigations into student complaints.
• Adding a new section providing for full tuition refunds for those students who receive career training from non-registered institutions, from institutions that falsely represent to students that they are accredited, or when students are otherwise misled by a false representation of the institution or its agents.

The Bill amends the Degree Authorization Act by

• Incorporating the Degree Quality Assessment Board and setting its objectives in the Act.
• Providing that the Degree Quality Assessment Board be responsible for establishing and publishing a degree quality assessment process by which it will assess applications by institutions for degree-granting status and who wish to use the word "university" to refer to their educational programs.
• Providing that the minister may only give degree-granting status or allow an institution to use the word "university" if the Degree Quality Assessment Board has first completed a quality assessment process and recommended that the minister give consent to the institution.
• Providing that the Degree Quality Assessment Board be composed of members representing public universities and colleges, private university and colleges, and student governing associations.
• Adding a definition for authorized out-of-province degree granting institution and providing that the minister may not give consent to out-of-province applicants unless the minister is satisfied that the applicant falls under this definition.