Higher education in New Brunswick: Difference between revisions

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Higher education in New Brunswick (also referred to as postsecondary education) refers to education provided by higher education institutions in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Higher education has a rich history in New Brunswick, including the first English-speaking University in Canada, University of New Brunswick, and the first university in the British Empire to have awarded a baccalaureate to a woman (Grace Annie Lockhart, B.Sc, 1875), Mount Allison University.

In Canada, education is the responsibility of the provinces and there is no Canadian federal ministry governing education. New Brunswick has four universities authorized to grant degrees and one community college, the New Brunswick Community College.

• Governing body for education in New Brunwick: Department of Post Secondary Education, Training and Labour
• Minister of Post Secondary Education, Training and Labour: Hon. Ed Doherty
• Public Chartered Universities: 4
• Private Chartered Universities: 3
• Universities Recognizied Under the Degree Granting Act: 3
• Other Specialized Institutions: 3
• Average undergraduate tuition fees for domestic residents in the 2007/08 Academic Year: $5,733 ^[1]
• Average graduate tuition fees for domestic residents in the 2007/08 Academic Year: $5,179 ^[2]

Participation in post-secondary education in the Maritimes is higher than the national average, with approximately a 28% participation rate in New Brunswick (NB), while Canada as a whole hovers around 20-26%; this can be partly attributed to the high enrolment of out-of-province students who choose to attend postsecondary studies in New Brunswick. The university participation rate in New Brunswick has continued to increase between 2005/06 and 2006/07; but this change can mainly be attributed to the Francophone population of New Brunswick.

While participation rates are higher than the national average, the population of 18-24 year olds in NB and the rest of the Maritime provinces are predicted to decline greater than the rest of Canada; undergraduate participation peaked in New Brunswick in 2003/04 and in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia during the 2004/05 academic session. Between 1990 and 2000, the number of 18-24 year olds has dropped 13% in the Maritimes while the rest of Canada dropped less than 1%. ^[7]

Some of the factors leading to a decline in postsecondary participation in NB include:

• A strong economy that encourages students to enter the labor force early; and
• An out-migration of students from the Maritime Provinces (NB, NS, PEI). Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page).

• Over the past number of years (1997-2007), approximately one in seven New Brunswickers have left their home province to go to university in another province.
• A 2002 report, by the Maritimes Province Higher Education Commission has shown that "after graduation, while male residents do tend to leave at greater rates than female residents from New Brunswick, the gap is not statistically significant one year after graduation." It has been shown that the majority of those leaving the province are leaving "to find a job." ^[8]

• In the past, New Brunswick had an on-line transfer system that focused on transfers between New Brunswick’s two public postsecondary systems (community colleges and public universities). The New Brunswick Community College (NBCC) has had a "policy in place since 1994 to allow, where academically appropriate, credit transferability of courses, programs, or units of instruction that have been taken at approved public and private postsecondary institutions." ^[9]

• "The two public postsecondary systems have also developed articulation agreements for applied degree programs. There are a number of agreements for block transfer of credits within different programs of these institutions." In order to support students through this process, each institution has appointed a representative to assist in their transfer of credits. ^[10]

• The Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation was established in 2005 to provide support to students with demonstrated financial need. The millennium access bursaries have been distributed in the form of grants to single, dependent, low-income students. There are two groups of eligible students: those who began post-secondary studies during the 2005/06 academic year, and those who are began studies in 2006/07. Millennium access bursaries are not available to students who have enrolled after the end of the 2006/07 academic year.

• Eligible students were able to receive a $1,000 grant in their first year of study, $2,200 in the second year, and $1,800 in the third. Students must have been enrolled full-time in undergraduate studies that lead to a degree, certificate or diploma in a program of at least two years in length.

• Those students who applied for financial assistance from New Brunswick Student Financial Services were considered automatically for the grant. ^[11][12]

• All universities and colleges in New Brunswick are currently offering distance education courses using various methods. One private degree-granting institution operates completely online and there is substantial focus on the development of Internet-based postsecondary education.^[13]

Higher education system in New Brunswick includes

• the governing Ministry of Postsecondary Education Training and Labour,
• related agencies, boards, and commissions, and
• public charted universities, private charted universities, universities recognized under the degree granting act, public colleges, and other institutions such as private career colleges.

• Universite de Moncton
• University of New Brunswick
• Mount Allison University
• St. Thomas University

• Atlantic Baptist University
• Bethany Bible University
• St. Stephen's University

• Lansbridge University
• Yorkville University
• University of Fredericton

• The New Brunswick Community College has 11 campuses which provide non-university-degree training programs for existing and emerging occupations while also supporting adult basic education; each campus is designated as English (6) or French (5) according to the predominant language of the region. The campuses offer a multiplicity of programmes (technical and vocational, apprenticeship, general interest, academic upgrading, community service), full-time or part-time, both on and off campus, ranging from 20-100 weeks.

• Maritime College of Forest Techonology

• Private Occupational Training Branch

Universities are independently-administered institutions with full autonomy on admissions and all other academic matters. New Brunswick provides funding to four public universities. Private universities do not receive government funding.

The governing bodies of the eleven New Brunswick Community Colleges include provincial government representatives.^[14]

• The mandate of the Post-Secondary Affairs Branch is to initiate and promote programs and strategies that allow for the effective transition into, from or within post-secondary institutions and to coordinate activities with the universities in particular, and to represent the Department provincially, regionally, nationally, and internationally in support of these initiatives.

• In 2001, New Brunswick adopted the Degree Granting Act, allowing private for-profit institutions to confer university degrees. To date, only one institution, Lansbridge University, has been designated to confer the Master of Business Administration degree. The governing bodies of the eleven New Brunswick Community Colleges include provincial government representatives.

• Besides various government-support pre-employment, apprenticeship and other vocational programmes, there are also about 65 private training organizations operating in New Brunswick (which are required to register under the Private Occupational Training Act). ^[15]

• Funding for Higher Education in New Brunwick is based upon two methods, Unrestricted Operating Assistance and Restricted Operating Assistance. Unrestricted Operating Assistance represents approximately 95 percent of total operating assistance to New Brunswick’s four public universities, with Restricted Operating Assistance representing the balance. The Department of Education is responsible for determining the final allocation of funding.
• Unrestricted grants are allocated as Flat Grant (75 percent is based on historical funding) and Enrolment Grant 25 percent - based on weighted FTE and three year rolling average. Restricted purpose grants are small part of overall funding and generally are institution specific or allocated based on share of Operating Grant. Capital funding is project based.^[16]

• Tuition at New Brunswick postsecondary instutions are set by the individual institutions, in consultation with government.

• Higher education in Canada
• List of universities in Canada
• List of colleges in Canada

• http://www.canlii.org/nb/laws/sta/h-4.1/index.html
• http://www.gnb.ca/cpse-ceps/index-e.asp
• http://www.gnb.ca/0105/index-e.asp
• http://www.unesco.org/iau/onlinedatabases/
• http://www.gnb.ca/cnb/cnbnews/detail-e.asp?ID=61
• http://www.gnb.ca/0105/AnnualReport-rapportannuel07.pdf