A submission by OPSEU’s CAAT-Support Division to the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development’s consultation on College Funding Model Reform
Introduction
“Community colleges are the hearts of Ontario’s communities. Properly funded, they can deepen social and economic development, while encouraging academic achievement and providing quality employment.”
Warren (Smokey) Thomas, President, OPSEU
When Ontario’s applied arts college system was established by then Minister of Education Bill Davis nearly five decades ago, he could not have imagined the current form and function of today’s publicly-funded colleges.
The province’s 24 Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAATs) have grown and developed beyond their original mandate of providing technical and vocational education to high school graduates not bound for university.
Ontario’s colleges have expanded their programs to include applied, bachelor degree and post-graduate education. CAATs today educate a growing segment of the population, as less than 35 per cent of college applicants in the 2014-15 academic year came in directly from Ontario secondary schools.
http://www.ontariocolleges.ca/colleges/paying-for-college. 2016. Web.