PCTIA (the Agency) has the following objects:
(a) to establish basic education standards for registered institutions and to provide consumer protection to the students and prospective students
of registered institutions;
(b) to establish standards of quality that must be met by accredited
institutions
Who
Has to Be Registered
The Private Career Training Institutions Agency (PCTIA),
under the authority of the Private Career Training Institutions
Act registers institutions that provide instruction in programs
that exceed $1000 in tuition and 40 hours in duration. Before these
programs can be delivered, the institution and its programs must be
registered.
Private career colleges are private institutions that
enter into contracts with individual students to provide one or more
career training programs for a fee.
- The Private Career Training Institutions Act
does not apply to a college of applied arts and technology, university,
public or private elementary and secondary schools and institutions
that do not have a physical presence in British Columbia.
- Some institutions may voluntarily choose to register
with PCTIA even though their programs would not normally require them
to be registered. Approval of voluntary registrants is determined
by the Agency's Registrar.
It should be noted that some institutions are exempt
from registration and some programs do not require registration under
the Act.
Until an institution has been registered and its
programs approved, it is a violation of the Private Career Training
Institutions Act to deliver or advertise the delivery of these programs.
An institution cannot enrol or collect tuition from students until the
institution and programs are registered.
What's the Difference Between Registered and Accredited?
A registered institution has made
an application to operate a private training institution in BC, has
had the application successfully approved, has attended an Agency registration workshop, has met the Agency's basic education standards, and has paid the necessary start-up
fees. A registered institution re-confirms its program offerings and
institutional details with the Agency each year and attends a registration workshop every three years..
An accredited institution is
one that has been registered for at least one year, has voluntarily
applied for accreditation, has completed a detailed accreditation report,
has successfully undergone a rigourous evaluation by an external audit
team, and has met the Agency's quality standards for accredited institutions.
Each year an accredited institution is visited by a PCTIA Institution
Officer and every five years accreditations are re-evaluated. Programs
are reviewed both internally and externally at least once every five
years. Accredited institutions must still meet all the requirements
of basic registration and report on a number of key performance indicators each year.
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What
Steps are Taken to be Registered
The registration
process is a rigorous exercise. It normally takes between one to
two months to complete the necessary requirements to become a registered
private career training institution in British Columbia.
To register a private career training
institution, applicants must complete the following registration
process:
- Attending a registration workshop for new applicants
- Submitting an Application for Registration and application
fee
- Providing all materials and information requested
by the Agency
- Paying the applicable fees for the upcoming year
- A site visit/inspection may be required
Some programs do not require registration under the
Private Career Training Institutions Act. The Agency will determine
the eligibility or requirement to register upon review of a completed
Application for Registration and application fee payment once the applicant has attended the required workshop given to potential new institution owner/operators.
Registration of the Institution
and Programs
Once an application has been successfully approved and
all fees have been paid, a registration certificate is provided bearing
the institution number assigned by the Agency. It is a requirement that
this registration certificate be posted in a prominent place at the
institution in an area viewable by the public.
Upon successful registration, the institution's name
and list of programs will become available on the Agency's website,
along with other details such as the operating addresses, program tuition
fees, other program fees, program admission requirements, minimum instructor
qualifications, and other information as determined by the Agency.
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Accreditation
Accreditation is not a mandatory process under the current
PCTI legislation. While institutions providing training or instruction
as defined in the Act must register by law with the Agency,
accreditation is a separate process undertaken by those institutions
wishing to seek recognition of their educational standards of quality.
One of the objects of the Private
Career Training Institutions Agency (PCTIA) is to establish standards
of quality that must be met by accredited institutions. The Ministry
of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development requires private career institutions to seek PCTIA
accreditation as a precondition for StudentAid BC (student loan) designation.
Many institutions seek accreditation because it is a benefit to both
students and the institution to go through an external quality assurance
process. PCTIA accreditation is required for institutions seeking the Ministry's Education Quality Assurance (EQA) designation.
Who May Apply for Accreditation
Institutions that have actively operated as a registered
institution for a period of a year or more in British Columbia, or for
a similar period of time as a government-regulated institution in an
another province or territory in Canada or in the United States may
apply to the Registrar for accreditation pursuant to the provisions
of the Act, the Regulations and Bylaws. Applications for accreditation
will only be accepted if the institution is found to be in compliance
with the requirements of a registered institution, as set out in the
Act, the Regulations and the Bylaws.
What Steps are Taken in the
Accreditation Process
Upon successful completion of an application, a registration
compliance visit, and an accreditation workshop, the institution will be contacted by their Institution
Officer who will assist the institution in its preparation of an Institutional
Accreditation Report that provides the information required of accredited
institutions as set out in Part V of the PCTIA Bylaws, and responds
to the quality assurance standards set out in the Institutional Accreditation
Report template.
The accreditation process includes the preparation of
an Institutional Accreditation Report, followed by a site visit by a
PCTIA-appointed accreditation team. The team
validates the Institutional Accreditation Report and evaluates the capacity
of the institution to meet the Agency’s quality standards. The
accreditation team’s report determines
whether an institution, meets the criteria in full, meets criteria but
requires additional work or does not meet the criteria.
The major areas of review in the quality standards include:
- statement of purpose or mission statement
- administrative capacity
- facilities and institutional resources
- instructors
- academic policies and student services
- program delivery
- distance education
Ongoing Review of Accreditation
If accreditation is granted as a result of the
on-site visit and report, institutions are monitored by a PCTIA Institution
Officer to ensure continuing conformity of program provision and delivery
with the requirements of the Bylaws and the quality standards of the
Agency. This monitoring is facilitated through the institution providing
annual accreditation reports, an annual visit from a PCTIA Institution
Officer, the submission of annual enrolment reports and financial statements
within six months of the institute’s fiscal year end, approval
of new program and program change submissions, the submission of formal
program review reports in each five-year period, as well as external
audits by an accreditation team once in each five-year period.
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Student
Training Completion Fund (STCF)
Students attending registered private career training
institutions in British Columbia have their tuition protected by the
Student Training Completion Fund (STCF). The STCF provides tuition trainout
funding in the case of the closure of a private career training institition, or when the PCTIA Board determines that a student has been misled by and institution.
In order to be registered, an institution must provide
the Agency with an initial contribution to the Student Training Completion
Fund. After being registered, the institution must remit to the STCF,
a slliding-scale percentage of the tuition it receives each month as disclosed in the Bylaws.
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