University Continuing Education in Canada

1
University Continuing Education in Canada

• Policies and Practices of CAUCE Member
  Institutions
• November, 2007

2
Prior Research

• Continuing Education in Canadian Universities
  Policies and Practices, 1985 (W. M. Brooke and
  J.F. Morris, CAUCE, 1987)
• An Overview of Continuing Education Policies and
  Practices in Canadian Universities (J. F. Morris
  and J. Potter, CAUCE, 1996)

3
Research Objectives

• develop an up-to-date, comprehensive overview of
  the field of practice
• identify emerging trends and changes that have
  occurred in university continuing education over
  the last 15 to 20 years
• publish a summary report for distribution to
  CAUCE member institutions that will serve as a
  general description of practice and a reference
  document for practitioners, policy makers,
  researchers and others interested in this area of
  higher education

4
Methodology

• Revised the 1996 questionnaire
• Pre-test with current and former deans and
  directors in April, 2006
• Mailed the questionnaire to 48 member
  institutions in late May, 2006
• As of November, 2006, we had responses from 39
  member institutions (80)35 (73) completed the
  questionnaire using 04-05 data (Sept. 1 to Aug.
  31)

5
Context

• Primarily Undergraduate (15/34)
• Comprehensive (11/34)
• Medical/Doctoral (8/34)
• Mean institutional enrollment
• 14,970 students (range 750-43,000)
• No reliable institutional data available on
  institutional registrations in non-degree and
  non-credit

6
Definitions

• Degree Credit Courses that can be taken for
  credit toward an academic degree awarded by the
  university. Degree credit courses may be bundled
  into programs that do not, by themselves,
  constitute full degrees
• Non-degree Credit Courses that do not normally
  carry credit toward a degree but may be taken for
  credit toward another credential offered by the
  university. Non-degree credit courses generally
  involve evaluation of students

7
Definitions

• Non credit Organized courses, classes,
  workshops, seminars, forums, initiatives,
  symposia, and/or public lecture series which have
  sustained instruction but which do not carry
  credit toward a university degree or other
  diploma or certificate (other than a certificate
  of participation) awarded by the continuing
  education unit or the university. Non-credit
  offerings do not generally involve evaluation of
  students

8
Context

• Types of programs respondents deliver
• Only degree 2/35
• Only non-degree/non-credit 12/35
• Both degree and non-degree/non-credit 21/35
  (60)
• Distance and Off-Campus 27/35 (77)

9
Organization and Management

• Unit name still majority contain Continuing
  Education or Continuing Studies.
• 13 units have undergone name change in last 5
  years and 9 units are considering one.

10
Organization and Management

• Separate Program Portfolios 32/34
• N
• Distance Education 23 73
• Professional Training 21 66
• Business/Commerce 18 57
• Seniors Programs 17 53
• ESL 17 53

11
Organization and Management

• Distinct Service Portfolios (22/35)
• Marketing 91
• Finance/Information Systems 68
• Student Services 52
• Facilities Management 50

12
Organization and Management

• 28/35 Deans/Directors report to VP (Academic)
• Representation on senior decision-making bodies
• N
• Top (e.g., BofG or equiv.) 3 9 22
• Senate 28 80
• Decanal 17 53
• Presidential Advisory Committee 11 37
• with representation where these bodies exist.

13
Organization and Management

• CE Unit has
• N
• Own mission statement 28/33 85 72
• Strategic plan 27/34 79 70
• 3-5 Yr. Business plan 24/35 68

14
Organization and Management

• Has CE undergone significant change in the past 5
  years? N
• Yes 20/33 60
• Impetus
• U Admin 15/20 75
• CE 11/20 55
• Nature of Change
• Admin. 9/19 47
• Academic 4/19 21
• Admin./Acad. 6/19 32

15
Organization and Management

• Changes to CE in past 5 yrs
• Non
• Degree -degree Non-credit
• Increase net revenue expectations 15/24
  16/25 21/30
• Expansion of mission/functions 9/24
  8/25
• Reassignment of responsibilities 8/24
• Increase co-op. post-secondary 7/24
  8/25 9/30
• Increase co-op. business/govt
  11/25 13/30
• Move to full cost recovery 10/30
• Identified by a minimum of 1/3 of respondents

16
Organization and Management

• Anticipated Changes to CE in next 5 yrs
• Non
• Degree -degree Non-credit
• Increase net revenue expectations 18/23
  18/26 21/28
• Expansion of mission 13/23 14/26
  13/28
• Increase co-op. post-secondary 11/23
  10/26 11/28
• Increase co-op. business/govt. 12/23
  15/28 13/26
• Identified by a minimum of 1/3 of respondents

17
Organization and Management

• N
• Title of unit head
• Director 21/35 30
• Dean 10/35 60
• Rank Academic 16/35 45 59
• Gender Female 25/35 71 40
• Education Doc. 15/34
• Masters 15/34
• Bachelors 4/34

18
Organization and Management

• Gross revenues (04-05)
• Range 15,700 - 18.9M
• Mean 5.8M
• Largest Net Surplus 5.4M
• Largest Net Deficit 282,800

19
Organization and Management

• Primary Sources of Revenue
• Mean
• N of total Revenue
• Non-credit offerings 20/26 27
• Non-degree credit courses 16/27 18
• Degree-credit courses 15/29 28
• Univ. core budget allocation 13/30 14
• Number of respondents reporting these revenue
  sources

20
Organization and Management

• Units with revenue/profit
• sharing agreements 22/35 63
• Based on net revenue after
• expenses 10/22 46
• Agreements vary by program 16/22 73
• Informal/can be changed at
• CEs discretion 9/22 41

21
Organization and Management

• To what extent is your unit self-supporting?
• Degree Non-Degree
  Non-Credit
• 100 14/19 74 12/19 63 19/31 61
• What costs are you expected to cover on campus?
  (N29) N
• Personnel salaries/benefits 26 90
• Info Systems support/maintenance 14 48
• Ongoing repairs/improvements 12 41
• Space/rental 11 38
• Info Systems development 10 35
• Utilities 7 24
• Capital costs and major renovations 7 24
• University overhead for services 7 24

22
Organization and Management

• Gross expenses allocated to promotion
• N (32)
• lt5 10 31
• 5-9 6 19
• 10-14 8 25
• 15-19 4 13
• 20-24 3 9
• gt24 1 3
• Has the Web reduced gross promotion expenses?
• Yes 22/35 63
• Somewhat 14/22 64

23

• Degree Credit
• Courses

24
Definition Degree Credit Courses

• Courses that can be taken for credit toward an
  academic degree awarded by the university.
  Degree credit courses may be bundled into
  programs that do not, by themselves, constitute
• full degrees.

25
Degree Credit Courses

• 23 of 35 respondents (65.2) completed this
  section
• Structure of CE with respect to degree credit
  delivery most commonly reported
• - academic responsibility decentralized and
• administrative responsibility centralized
  
• (65.2 or 15 institutions)
• - academic and administrative
  responsibility
• centralized (21.7 or 5 institutions)

26
Composition of Degree Credit Course Course
Registrations (N)

• On Campus Off Campus
• Range Mean Range Mean
• Part-time students 0-100 (18) 47.4
  5-100 (18) 58.6
• Full-time students 0-100 (20) 40.4
  0-75 (20) 24.8
• including 0s

27
Emphasis on Mature Learners

• 60.9 (14 institutions) indicate an emphasis on
  mature learners
• Examples of special emphasis include
• - support services
• e.g. registration, scheduling, delivery,
  advisement
• - recruitment
• - course and program development
• decisions, e.g. after degree graduate

28
Degree Credit Formats (N23)

• N
• .
• DE using instructional technologies 20 87.0
• Spring/Summer 16 69.6
• Off-campus using f-2-f or blended 16 69.6
• Weekend 14 60.9
• Evening 13 56.5
• International 3 13.0

29
Types of Programs

• On Campus Off Campus
• N N
• (of 23) (of 22)
• Undergraduate degree 13 56.5 20
  90.9
• Graduate degree 7 30.4 13 59.1

30
Definitions

• For part-time student, definitions vary
  considerably
• - just over 52 use fewer than 24 ch/year
• or 12 ch/term or fewer than 4
  courses/term
• For mature students, 55 use 21 plus who does
  not meet standard entrance requirements

31
Admission Policy for Part-Time Undergraduate
(N25)

• Same as for Full-time (85)
• Basis for admission mostly
• - high school academic standards (88.9)
• - age requirements (66.7)

32
Policies/Procedure for Recognizing Prior Learning

• 60.9 (14 institutions) have policies and
  procedures in place within university or CE unit
• 85.7 (12 institutions) of above have
  responsibility within CE unit
• Types of responsibility N
• - advising/support for students 10 83.3
• - faculty advising/support 8 66.7
• - coordination of PLA services 7 58.3

33
Methods of Assessment for PLA (N13)

• N
• Portfolio 8 61.5
• Interview 7 53.8
• Combination 4 30.8
• Student Narrative 3 23.1
• Demonstration 3 23.1

34
Registration Methods (N22)

• Frequency N of Use
• .
• In person 20 90.9 2
• Online 20 90.9 1
• Mail 19 86.4 4
• Fax 18 81.8 3
• Telephone (staff assisted) 13 59.1 3
• Telephone (computerized) 4 18.2 5
• Much higher than remaining

35
Regulations on Course Enrolments

• Almost all (95.5 or 21 institutions) report that
  part-time students can take day-time courses
• 60 of these report that some limitations apply
  (e.g. Departmental permission - 54.5)
• 95.5 or 22 institutions report that full-time
  students can enroll in degree credit courses
  offered under the aegis of the CE unit
• 47.6 of these report that some limitations apply
  (e.g. Departmental permission - 80)

36
Fees and Payment Methods (N21)

• N
• .
• Cash 18 85.7
• Personal Cheque 18 85.7
• Credit Card 15 71.4
• E-Commerce 10 47.6
• Installment Payments 8 38.1

37
Fee Policies

• 73.9 (17 institutions) report that fees assessed
  for part-time learners are consistent with those
  assessed for full-time learners
• 63.6 (14 institutions) have a stated tuition
  waiver for seniors
• - most commonly at 65 (9 institutions)
• or 60 (3 institutions)

38
Minimum Enrolments

• No institutions offer all courses on a guaranteed
  basis
• Mean minimum numbers are 11.1 for fall/winter and
  11.0 for spring/summer
• Percentage of advertised courses cancelled
  annually ranges from 0-17.5 with a mean of 6.8

39
Credit Course Instructors

• Only one institution requires that a minimum of
  instructors be regular FT faculty
• 72.7 (16 institutions) have a policy on amount
  of overload for FT faculty members
• Mean of instructors who are FT faculty is 33.7
  in a range of 1-80
• 42.1 of respondents report that they are able to
  reject a faculty member assigned to teach in
  their unit

40
Instructor Compensation

• Most commonly (78.3), rates paid to PT
  instructors are comparable throughout the
  University
• FT instructor stipends are most commonly a flat
  rate regardless of rank (60) or a flat rate
  dependent on rank (20)
• Mean stipend amounts
• FT faculty PT Instructor
• (overload)
• 1-term undergrad course 4705 (18) 4594 (18)
• 1-term graduate course 4642 (13) 4658 (13)

41
Collective Agreements

• Salary schedule for instructors most often
  (72.7) determined by collective agreement
• 87.0 of respondents indicate that FT faculty
  have a CA
• 69.6 indicate that PT instructors are covered
  under a CA

42
Scheduling Formats for Degree Credit Courses

• Institutions
• Fall Winter Spring Summer
• Daytime 7 7 13 13
• Late afternoon 11 11 13
  11
• Evening 19 19 19 18
• Weekends 16 16 12 9
• Other 5 5 3 3
  
• 54.5 report using condensed formats in other
  than Summer

43
PT Student Eligibility for University-based
Academic Awards (N21)

• Bursaries 66.7
• Medals/Prizes for Academic Performance 52.4
• Scholarships 42.9
• Loans 42.9
• Deans List 38.1

44
Part-time Student Organizations

• Only 38.1 (8 institutions) report that there is
  a part-time student organization (compared with
  just over half in 1996 survey)

45

• Non-Degree
• and
• Non-Credit

46
Non-Degree Definition

• Courses that do not normally carry credit toward
  a degree but may be taken for credit toward
  another credential offered by the university.
  Non-degree credit courses generally involve
  evaluation of students.

47
Non-Credit Definition

• Organized courses, classes, workshops, seminars,
  forums, initiatives, symposia, and/or public
  lecture series which have sustained instruction
  but which do not carry credit toward a university
  degree or other diploma or certificate (other
  than a certificate of participation) awarded by
  the continuing education unit or the university.
  Non-credit offerings do not generally involve
  evaluation of students.

48
Non-Degree and Non-Credit

• 32 of 35 respondents (91) completed this section
• N
• Non-degree only 3/32 9
• Non-credit only 7/32 22
• Both non-degree and non-credit 22/32 69

49
Non-Degree and Non-Credit Source of Program Ideas

• CE program developers/coordinators 84
• Academic departments 58
• Current/potential instructors 53
• Senior management of CE 47
• Students 36
• Advisory committees, private sector
• organizations, prof. groups, govt lt30
• ranked as most frequent or next most frequent
  source

50
Non-Degree and Non-Credit Planning with relevant
depts

• Non-degree Non-credit
• N N
• As a matter of practice 8/21 38 9/31 29
  
• Required by U policy 6/21 29 1/31 3
• From time to time 5/21 24 16/31 52
• No working relationship 2/21 10 5/31
  16

51
Non-Degree and Non-Credit

• Responsibility for decisions on what courses/
  offerings to develop and deliver
• Non-degree Non-credit
• N N
• CE sole responsibility 13/22 59 27/29
  93

52
Non-Degree/Non-Credit Role of Senior Acad.
Dec.-Making Body

• Responsibility of senior academic decision-making
  body WRT non-degree/non-credit programming
• Non-degree Non-credit
• N (22) N (29)
• No assigned role 4 18 14
  48
• Must approve all 10 46 2 7
• Officially deferred
• approval to CE 2 9 4 14
• No official role/periodic
• reporting required 4 18 9
  31
• Other 2 9

53
Non-Degree and Non-Credit Program Clusters

• Non-degree Non-credit
• N (21) N (29)
• Business/Professional 10 48
  19 66
• ESL/Language 6 29 19
  66
• Health 5 24 8
  28
• Information Tech. 5 24
  9 31
• Performing/Visual Arts 4 19
  8 28
• Writing/communication 4 19
  16 55
• Personal Development 4 19
  16 55
• Study Skills --- 9
  31
• Other 7 33 9 29

54
Non-Degree and Non-Credit Registration

• Registration Methods Use 1 or 2
• (N32)
• In Person 32 7
• Mail 31 11
• Fax 30 8
• Telephone staff assisted 26 18
• Online 22 13
• Telephone computerized 2 2

55
Non-Degree and Non-Credit Scheduling Formats

• Non-degree Non-credit
• N N
• Sept.-April
• Daytime 13/20 65 26/31 83
• Evenings 15/19 79 27/31 87
• Weekends 12/19 63 23/31 74
• May-June
• Daytime 12/18 67 24/30 80
• Evenings 12/18 79 21/30 70
• Weekends 9/18 50 19/30 63
• Jul.-Aug.
• Daytime 11/17 65 23/28 82
• Evenings 10/17 59 16/28 57
• Weekends 1/17 1 13/28 46

56
Non-Degree and Non-Credit Funding Approach

• N
• Completely subsidized 1/32 3
• Given budget allocation with expectation that
• all/most/some funds will be returned 10/32
  31
• Cost recovery with expenditures covered by
• revenues 10/32 31
• University provides no allocation and expects
• a return from unit to general revenues 8/32
  25
• Other 3/32 9

57
Non-Degree and Non-Credit

• After all costs levied against your unit are
  accounted for, does the operation break even?
• Non-degree Non-credit
• N N
• Yes 17/22 77 21/29 72
• No 5/22 22 8/29 28

58
Non-Degree and Non-Credit Costs Expected to be
Covered

• N (32)
• Promotion costs 31 97
• Direct costs incl. instruction 30 94
• Comp. of prog. co-ord./admin 28 88
• Comp. of sec./clerical 28 88
• Compensation of unit head 18 56
• Comp. of directors reporting to unit head 17
  53
• Overhead to U/cost recovery basis 11 34
• Overhead to U/fixed 5 16

59
Non-Degree and Non-Credit Instruction

• Responsibility to approve instructors
• Non-degree Non-credit
• N N
• Exclusive to CE 13/22 59 25/31 81
• In consultation with Fac./Dept. 6/22 27
  6/31 19
• No responsibility 2/22 9 ---
• Other 1/22 5 ---
• Full time faculty teaching
• 17/22 77 26/31 84
• Mean 24 21

60
Non-Degree and Non-Credit Student Services

• Day Evening Weekend
• N (31) N (28) N (27)
• Parking 21 67 19 68 19 70
• Security 21 67 20 71 20 74
  
• Food Service 19 61 17 61 15
  56
• Photocopying 17 55 13 46 13
  48
• Counselling 13 41 5 18 5
  19
• Rec./Athletic Fac. 11 36 10 36
  10 37
• Orientation 9 29 3 10 1
  4
• Financial Aid Advice 9 29 3 10
  2 7
• Career Develop. 8 26 3 10
  3 11
• PT Student Lounge 8 26 5 18
  5 19

61
Non-Degree and Non-Credit Advertising

• Approach N Used 1 or 2
• Newspaper ads 24 20
• Brochures mailed directly 22 18
• Sessional calendars mailed directly 17 15
• Household drops/mass mailings 11 9
• Web 14 8
• Direct e-mail 9 3
• Radio 8 3
• TV 1 1
• By funds expended

62
Non-Degree Credentials

• N
• Diploma 8/22 36
• Certificate 20/22 89
• Diploma criteria
• credit/contact hours 100 ( 8)
• Evaluation of students 88 ( 7)
• Other criteria 38 ( 3)
• Certificate criteria
• credit/contact hours 75 (15)
• Evaluation of students 80 (16)
• Other criteria 5 ( 1)

63
Non-Degree Other Interesting Bits

• N
• Tuition waiver policy for seniors 2/22
  9
• Seniority/group benefits for PT instructors
  4/22 18
• Support staff assistance for PT instructors
  7/22 32
• PT instructors unionized 5/22 23
• CE offers PD to instructors 18/22
  82
• CE does orientation for instructors 17/22
  77
• CE does orientation for students 10/22 45

64

• Distance Education/
• Off Campus

65
Definition Distance Education

• Course offerings, either face-to-face or
  technology based, that are fully available away
  from the main campus

66
Organization

• 11 of 27 units (40.7) have a separate unit
  responsible for distance
• In most cases (66.7), this unit does not handle
  all of the CE units DE programming
• 15 of 25 units (60) indicate that their
  university has other providers of distance
  education (Education, Business, Nursing)

67
Registrations

• N Range Mean
• Degree Credit (23) 20 104-18,738 4,749
• Non-degree Credit (19) 11 34-3,015 1,043
• Non-Credit (18) 11 3-3,770 948

68
Registration Distribution by Course Format

• Mean registrations (N)
• Degree Non-degree Non-credit
• Face-to-face off campus 1,566 (6) 173
  (3) 471 (4)
• Primarily print based 3,774 (7)
  690 (6) 90 (4)
• Primarily online 1,132 (13) 195 (5)
  1,343 (3)
• Primarily teleconferenced 321 (2) -
  -
• Primarily televised 953 (3) - -
• Mixed media 2,125 (3) -
  -

69
Learning Management System

• 19 institutions report using WebCT as a LMS for
  distance learning courses
• 4 institutions report using Blackboard
• 7 institutions report using another LMS, e.g.
  Desire2Learn, Moodle, Elluminate, in-house system
• In 87 of cases, the LMS used by CE is also
  supported institution wide

70
Off-Campus Centres

• Fewer than one-third (32 or 8 institutions)
  operate off-campus centres/offices
• Of these, mean is 9.5 sites

71
Staffing for DE Operations

• N Mean
• .
• FT DE Staff 22 9.3
• FT (part of other resp.) 13 6.0
• PT (half or more) 8 4.5
• PT (less than half) 7 6.3
• Majority of staff time (73.2) is invested in
  degree credit offerings

72
DE Students (N 21)

• Range Mean
• of students in DE courses living
• a) within reasonable driving distance 1- 94
  50.7
• b) beyond driving distance but within
• province 2-100 30.0
• c) outside province but within Canada 2- 75
  20.4
• d) outside Canada .01- 40 5.4

73
Instruction of DE Courses

• of DE courses taught by full-time faculty
• N Mean
• a) degree credit courses 19 37.0
• b) non-degree credit courses 11 22.4
• c) non-credit courses 8 31.5
• Includes only those institutions in
  which FT faculty teach
• these types of courses

74
Remuneration for Teaching DE Courses

• 52.0 of respondents indicate that their unit has
  a policy of supplemental remuneration for
  instructors teaching courses by DE
• In most cases, these supplemental amounts are for
  course adaptation and teach/tutoring

75
Support Services for Instructors

• 80.8 of respondents (21 institutions) provide
  special training for instructors (largely in LMS
  and best practices)
• 88.0 of respondents (22 institutions) provide
  support for DE course development (largely
  instructional design and technical support)

76
DE Student Support

• Only 12.5 of respondents (3 institutions)
  indicate that their university limits the of
  courses that a student can take by DE
• 70.4 of respondents (19 institutions) report
  that their university provides some student
  services especially for DE students (primarily
  advisement, learning/study skills, library and
  financial aid advisement in degree credit area)

77
Financing and Institutional Commitment for DE
courses

• Financing for all types of DE courses comes
  primarily from tuition fees
• Institutional commitment for DE delivery methods
  or systems
• Full Partial
• Commitment Commitment
• (N) (N)
• a) degree credit courses 13 62 6 29
• b) non-degree credit courses 6 46 4 31
• c) non-credit courses 5 36 4 29