Northern College receives ONCAT funding

Northern College has received nearly $70,000 in funding from the Ontario Council on Articulation and Transfer (ONCAT) for a research project titled Measuring the Cost of Credit Transfer in Small Colleges.

The project will examine the direct and indirect costs and benefits associated with student transfer, with a particular focus on small colleges. Northern has partnered with eight institutions from across the province from which it will gather data, identify transfer practices currently in use, and determine the overall benefit to learners in the process.

“Providing clear and effective pathways for students to transfer between Ontario’s colleges and universities helps maximize access to post-secondary education for learners throughout the province,” says Dr. Audrey J. Penner, Vice President, Academic and Student Success at Northern College. “Creating these pathways is challenging for smaller institutions, as few have the resources to maintain a dedicated transfer team. This research will help to identify best practices for providing high-quality services to transfer students in a way that’s sustainable in the long term.”

The results of this project are set to have significant impact on Ontario’s colleges and universities, given the province’s commitment to creating a comprehensive, transparent and consistently-applied credit transfer system.

“ONCAT is pleased to support Northern College in its efforts to analyze and assess student transfer, particularly among the smaller institutions,” says Glenn Craney, Executive Director of ONCAT. “Our organization recognizes that the project funding provides our membership of Ontario’s publicly funded institutions with the time and resources required to work through the complexities of student mobility, and is key to continuing the province’s development of an integrated postsecondary system that augments student success.”

Northern developed the research project in response to a request for project proposals issued by ONCAT in late 2014. ONCAT received proposals from colleges and universities throughout the province, and is funding Northern’s proposal with its direct focus on credit transfer costs, among others.

Measuring the Cost of Credit Transfer in Small Colleges marks Northern’s first entry into the field of social policy research. The project is scheduled to be completed in March 2016.