Increasing credit transfer options for students

NEWS RELEASE

MINISTRY OF TRAINING, COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

Ontario is launching an online database that will make it easier for postsecondary students to see how their course credits are recognized at other colleges and universities.

A new course-to-course database on ONTransfer.ca will provide students with the information they need to make informed decisions about their education while limiting delays in entering the labour market.

It will also reduce education costs for both students and taxpayers by clearly showing which credits are needed to complete diploma or degree programs when combining courses from different colleges and universities.

The launch of the database builds on progress Ontario has made with postsecondary institutions over the past two years to make it easier for students to transfer credits, including:

• Doubling the number of credit transfer pathways between postsecondary institutions from 300 to more than 600, resulting in more than 35,000 transfer opportunities for students.
• Launching ONTransfer.ca to provide students with centralized, clear and up-to-date information on credit transfer opportunities, policies and processes across all of the province's colleges and universities.
• Establishing the Ontario Council of Articulation and Transfer (ONCAT), an organization to co-ordinate credit transfer across multiple institutions.

Expanding credit transfer options and helping students make informed decisions about their postsecondary education is part of the Ontario government's economic plan to invest in people, build modern infrastructure, and support a dynamic and innovative business climate.

Quick facts:

• Approximately 21,500 students transfer within Ontario institutions each year.
• Ontario is investing $73.7 million toward credit transfer improvements between 2011 and 2016.
• The province’s top five programs students transfer out of and into are business, health, social science, engineering and liberal arts/general arts.
• Under the new database, a student majoring in business who wishes to transfer to another institution could save an average of $11,000 in tuition, with an additional $7,500 average savings to taxpayers.
• The province has increased its investment in publicly funded colleges and universities by $2.2 billion, or 80 percent, since 2002-03.
• Ontario has the highest postsecondary attainment rate in the OECD, with more than 65 percent of adults in the province holding a postsecondary diploma or degree.

Learn more at:

• Credit transfer opportunities in Ontario.
• ontario.ca/postsecondary

*************************