Premier Campbell and his Minster of Advanced Education, Murray Coell, got a nasty New Year's surprise last week with the announcement from the government of China that it would actively discourage its students from enrolling in private post-secondary training institutions in British Columbia. The announcement culminates a steady stream of media reports of international students in this province falling victim to the unsavory business practices of private, for-profit, post-secondary training institutions operating in BC.

 

Premier Campbell and his Minster of Advanced Education, Murray Coell, got a nasty New Year's surprise last week with the announcement from the government of China that it would actively discourage its students from enrolling in private post-secondary training institutions in British Columbia. The announcement culminates a steady stream of media reports of international students in this province falling victim to the unsavory business practices of private, for-profit, post-secondary training institutions operating in BC.

 

The announcement from the Chinese government must have been particularly biting for the Premier, who had made a special effort to promote BC's interest in attracting more international students during his trip to China in November, 2006. In fact, in an official press release from Beijing, Premier Campbell talked openly about the importance of international education: "Strengthening international education is a key element of our Asia Pacific Strategy, which is enhancing BC's ability to make connections with the countries that are so important to our future," said Campbell.

To find out two months later that his government's hands-off approach to regulating private post-secondary institutions is undermining his efforts to expand international education opportunities in China is yet another black mark on his ill-considered policy of letting private post-secondary institutions "self-regulate".

The most damaging effects of self-regulation first began to surface in October, 2006 with news reports about Kingston College's questionable business practices which left students with worthless credentials and thousands in lost tuition fees. The controversy took an unexpected twist when media reports also revealed that the owner of Kingston College had strong political connections with both the BC Liberals (he was a major donor) and Premier Campbell (he was an advisor on the Premier's Chinese Community Advisory Committee). Even worse, the reports showed that the head of Kingston College was also on the Board of the Private Career Training Institute Agency (PCTIA), the provincial government's new ‘self-regulating' agency for private post-secondary training organizations, and chaired PCTIA's committee on quality control.

The government's response has been an exercise in damage control rather than an up-front admission that their hands-off policy toward private post-secondary training institutions is at fault. However, with the latest announcement from the government of China, damage control simply won't cut it. Clearly, the Chinese government has heard enough about these unsavory private operators to take the unusual step of warning their students away from BC's private post-secondary training institutions. The question now is whether the Premier and his Advanced Education Minister are prepared to take the steps necessary to restore confidence amongst international students that our private post-secondary training institutions will be effectively regulated.

The Premier could start by demanding of these private post-secondary institutions the same transparency and accountability that is required of our public post-secondary institutions. In our public institutions, students, the public and faculty participate in everything from Board meetings to Education Councils. As well, community outreach is a mainstay in the operating mandates of every public post-secondary institution.

There's no doubt that private post-secondary training institutions will fight hard to maintain their ‘self-regulating' status. The government's hands-off approach is just what business wants and these private institutions are very much a business. However, it's time that the Premier and his Minister realized that their policy is doing serious damage to BC's reputation abroad. That's not good news for our province. It's also a clear sign that the government needs to move decisively to protect that reputation.