Working with Institutional Partners

BCCAT develops and implements guidelines, policies, and procedures designed to facilitate transfer among post-secondary institutions, and to promote efficiencies in student mobility across the BC post-secondary system. The Council's work involves consulting on BC Transfer System initiatives, providing advice and support, undertaking joint projects, conducting research, and offering mediation services—as illustrated in the examples below.

BCCAT Council and staff members liaise with numerous system committees and organizations on an ongoing basis to address emerging challenges and opportunities and to seek feedback on the Council's work.

• The system-wide consultation, Enabling the BC Transfer System, undertaken by BCCAT this year, is a key example of the Council's consultative approach. (See Enabling Transfer: System-Wide Consultation.)
• Institutional personnel working in the areas of transfer and articulation met with BCCAT staff to provide advice on the revision of a major guidebook for the system, the How to Articulate handbook.

BCCAT works with faculty and administrators to create efficiencies in student transfer and to provide effective tools for student planning. (See Projects and Publications.)

• The Flexible Pre-Major Working Group, made up of representatives from across the system, prepared a report on the use of Flexible Pre-Majors as a means of enhancing more efficient student transfer.
• A system-wide committee worked with BCCAT to prepare a special report on transfer credit appeals that suggested steps to improve students' ability to access transfer credit appeals processes.

BCCAT communicates with institutional staff to resolve transfer issues and ensure efficient articulation of courses and programs.

• BCCAT staff met with the System Liaison Person for the ESL Articulation Committee to work out strategies to bring provincial issues in the discipline to the attention of educational leaders.
• BCCAT staff worked with business program faculty and staff to address issues related to efficient functioning of the various business-associated articulation committees.

BCCAT works with institutional researchers and program staff to conduct research on student admissions and transfer that provides the basis for evidence-based decision-making in colleges, institutes, and universities. (See Examining Transfer and Mobility.)

• BCCAT commissioned BC Stats to prepare a report on student transfer and admissions experiences based on responses to the 2011 Diploma, Associate Degree, and Certificate Student Outcomes (DACSO) Survey.
• BCCAT worked with institutional research directors and BC Stats to launch a survey of students who move among post-secondary institutions, in order to better understand student motivations and experiences.

BCCAT staff members provide advice and support to education partners and stakeholders on issues related to student mobility and system articulation.

• BCCAT staff provided educational planning information, articulation expertise, and research data to BC Colleges regarding their development of a collaboration framework and a partnership database.
• BCCAT staff met with representatives of the BC Deans of Arts and Science Programs (BCDASP) regarding possible program collaborations.

• Next page: Working with BC Post-Secondary Groups