Ontario college students benefit from ONCAT initiative

TORONTO, Jan. 16, 2014 /CNW/ - This morning the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, Brad Duguid, announced the launch of a new course-to-course database created by the Ontario Council on Articulation and Transfer (ONCAT) that will be hosted on ONTransfer.ca. This online database will provide students with the information they need to make informed decisions about their education and make it easier for post-secondary students to see how their credits are recognized at other institutions. The College Student Alliance (CSA) is pleased to see this database launched this year as transferability has been one of the pillars of the organization since its inception.

"The College Student Alliance has been a strong voice in the pursuit of transferability for over a decade and we are happy to see that additional pathways are being created for students," said Curtis Bell, President of the CSA and President of the Student's Administrative Council (SAC) at Cambrian College. "Students will benefit from more centralized, transparent and up-to-date information across all of the province's colleges and universities; this is what our organization has been advocating for and we couldn't be happier to see this come to fruition."

This morning's announcement continues to put the issues that organizations like College Student Alliance have championed for over a decade into the forefront. In the winter of 2013, the CSA began collaborating with the Ontario Council on Articulation and Transfer during this time the ONCAT Student Advisory Committee was formed to provide student input. This was an opportunity for stakeholders like the CSA to contribute and work together on this initiative.

"Recognizing past and ongoing discussion with the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, and recently our through our involvement in ONCAT's Student Advisory Board, we are proud to have been a partner in the development of Ontario's current credit transfer landscape," said Tyler Epp, Director of Advocacy at the College Student Alliance. "We look forward to continuing to work alongside ONCAT and the Ministry in developing a seamless and transparent credit transfer framework which streamlines student mobility; both within Ontario and nationally."

The College Student Alliance (CSA) is an advocacy organization, which has been proudly serving Ontario's college students since 1975. The CSA currently represents 15 colleges and 21 student associations with over 135,000 full-time student members throughout the province.

SOURCE: College Student Alliance

Tyler Epp
Director of Advocacy
College Student Alliance
416.340.1212
[email protected]

Curtis Bell
President
College Student Alliance
519.748.5131 ext 16
[email protected]