College

Ontario considers shorter degrees, easier school transfers

Proposals put forward in government paper
By Maclean's

The government of Ontario is considering a swath of changes to its post-secondary education system, including mandating shorter bachelor degrees and making all first and second year credits transferable to any university in the province, the Guelph Mercury is reporting.

The newspaper cites a government discussion paper, to be released Thursday, that floats these ideas, along with suggestions to increase the availability of online learning and scheduling degree programs to take place year-round, rather than just two semesters.

“The transformation is required because the world we live in, and the world colleges and universities live in, is dramatically different, and the role (of post-secondary education) is different and larger than it ever has been,” Glen Murray, Ontario’s minister of training, colleges and universities, told the Mercury.

According to the newspaper, the proposal states that it’s time “to modernize our post-secondary education system in a way that will make it more relevant, more flexible, and more beneficial to Ontario students. … It will grow our economy and, by modernizing the system and increasing its productivity, we can reduce the cost to the public.”