BCCAT

Student Transitions from Adult Basic Education Upgrading Programs into Further Studies at BC Post-Secondary Institutions

Adult Basic Education (ABE) academic upgrading courses and programs are an important part of the British Columbia post-secondary system. In the 2021/22 academic year, 21,550 students were enrolled in ABE programs in 18 institutions across the province. This study is a response to the interest in exploring the success of ABE upgrading students in their further post-secondary studies.

The research identified routes from ABE upgrading courses into undergraduate and other programs within the BC post-secondary institutions that offer upgrading courses. To evaluate the success of ABE students in further post-secondary education, interviews with ABE professionals and data from previous provincial and institutional research on the outcomes of ABE programs were employed.

The results suggest that ABE upgrading programs in BC are indeed facilitating successful student transitions into further education. This outcome has been shown consistently across decades and across several different types of provincial and local studies. The report concludes with recommendations for continued discussion of the topic and for conducting further research.