The forces that drove near global organizational change in the past year are well-documented; but their relative impact is not. In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, we all needed to react and adapt. While organizations continue to respond to the evolving impacts of COVID-19, we now have the opportunity to identify what has changed and what we have learned from our experiences. Canadian companies are beginning to recognize that along with the many opportunities come challenges in the new future of work. If we can get it right, worklife may become more agile and productive for those employees who can adopt a hybrid model.  The focus of change across the globe varied by industry and organization. Most organizations realized the need to make strategic shifts in response to digital, technological, social and cultural factors ranging from diversity, equity and inclusion to corporate social responsibility and community development.

Polytechnics are well positioned to look beyond the new normal to the next reality, yet to be articulated.  Polytechnics focus on applied, industry-aligned programming which incorporates real-world experience. The pandemic has further highlighted the value of opportunities for lifelong learning, continuing education, professional development and corporate training offered through polytechnics. In addition to the breadth and diversity of traditional polytechnic credentials, short-term certificates and courses provide pathways for all learners and support pandemic recovery by facilitating reskilling and upskilling for individuals in industries impacted by COVID-19.

Polytechnic institutions also act as invaluable innovation resources for Canadian businesses. Through applied research, polytechnics are well-positioned to help companies and communities move forward and put ideas into action. As Canada focuses on a robust recovery plan that brings everyone along, polytechnics will be a pivotal part of this process.

Ontario is fortunate enough to have a world-class post-secondary education system, highly regarded globally, and a growing destination for learners of all types. The work we as educators and administrators do is more important than ever, given the impacts of technology and globalization in driving our knowledge and innovation economy. One of the keys to success has been the ability of institutions to continue to evolve, stay relevant, and deliver on the value proposition espoused for learners, employers, and government.

Therefore, it should be both curious and interesting that we are publishing a volume on polytechnics in Ontario. Curious because we are talking about a type of institution that is not formally recognized by the provincial government, and interesting because Ontario polytechnics are thriving and graduates are in demand, despite the lack of recognition. The case for formalizing polytechnics is about modernizing the post-secondary education system to leverage the differentiation that is evolving organically.

To provide context for the essays to follow, this chapter will:

1. provide a working definition of polytechnics in Ontario;
2. articulate the benefits and polytechnic value proposition; and
3. discuss challenges and implications going forward.

POLYTECHNICS IN ONTARIO

A scan of literature and other jurisdictions quickly demonstrates that polytechnics come in many shapes and sizes. From its Greek origins referring to “many arts” the term is now broadly associated with institutions offering a comprehensive range of career-oriented programs in a learning environment that emphasizes practical application of knowledge and competencies. Polytechnics are also generally understood to offer a range of credentials, with four-year bachelor’s degrees as a significant defining feature.

In the Ontario context, polytechnics operate within the college sector and share many of the characteristics of the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAAT). In Ontario, five of the 24 colleges received an additional designation as Institutes of Technology and Advanced Learning (ITAL). The primary difference in mandate between ITALs and CAATs is the former’s ability to offer 15% of programming at the bachelor level, compared to 5% for CAATs.

As institutions evolve and adapt in response to labour market needs, there has been variation in the exercise of the differentiated mandates within the college sector. A 2018 Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) report identified four-year degrees as the key point of differentiation within the college sector (Kaufman et al., 2018). The report categorized colleges into comprehensive providers, niche providers, or non-providers of degrees. With the exception of those offering collaborative nursing degrees delivered in partnership with universities, only half the colleges offer any degrees and just three are characterized as comprehensive providers. Colleges and ITALs were extended degree-granting status through the introduction of the Post-Secondary Education Choice and Excellence Act, 2000 as the government recognized that the increasingly knowledge-based economy was creating demand for workers with a type of advanced education and credentials not being provided through traditional universities. Additionally, the applied-career-focused model of education at colleges was attractive in terms of producing highly employable job-ready graduates.

In terms of providing solutions to the labour market challenges of our dynamic modern economy, neither universities nor colleges were in a position to deliver credentials to meet the needs of the highly skilled workforce. University graduates with bachelor’s degrees tended to lack the practical application and more career-focused education, and college diploma graduates lacked the advanced skills and knowledge afforded by the additional one to two years of undergraduate study. In terms of institutional capacity to respond, university programs were not well connected to the employment needs of industry, and colleges did not have the academic infrastructure or experience to grant degrees.

Twenty years after colleges received degree-granting status, and the subsequent further differentiation of degree granting based on the ITAL designation, the promise of the career-oriented, non-traditional bachelor’s degrees is still great; the results, however, have been underwhelming. Provincial enrolment in college sector degrees in 2019-2020 was approximately 23,190 (Province of Ontario, 2021). This constitutes about 8% of overall college enrolment and 4.7% of enrolment in bachelor’s degrees in Ontario, and is concentrated within three institutions. While intuitively it may seem that college degrees make a lot of sense for learners in terms of labour market outcomes, there has not been a stampede toward ITALs and colleges for degrees.

Several factors contribute to the continued dominance of universities in Ontario’s degree-granting space. First, degrees are associated with universities, whereas colleges have historically offered diplomas and certificates. The strong affiliation of bachelor’s degrees with universities is firmly rooted within Ontario culture, and our educational systems are structured to support this. Ontario’s public post-secondary education system limits the institutional types to two choices only—university or college. In this binary system, the rich differentiation that has evolved for over 50 years in the college sector is not recognized. ITALs are not understood, and the binary system reinforces false dichotomies that tend to view all institutions within each of the primary sectors as alike.

Contributing to this lack of clarity is a misunderstanding of colleges in Ontario. CAATs were intentionally designed as comprising a separate system with no integration or transfer arrangements with universities. The Ontario system is not only binary, but more accurately can be described as a parallel system, given the evolution of colleges and universities along two separate paths with no structured overlap. This is very different from the community college model in the US and several Canadian provinces. In this multi-purpose model, colleges provide short (two years or less) vocational programs as well as two-year associate degrees—generally with an arts and science focus—that can serve as foundational programs with significant credit recognition toward a bachelor’s degree at university.

Ontario CAATs are often erroneously referred to as community colleges, although the three-year advanced diploma was intended by name and duration to provide longer cycle programs (three years or more) of different but equal value to university programs. The attempt at designing a certain level of parity of esteem into the system was reflected in college diplomas being regarded as “terminal” credentials—assuming graduates would enter careers without the need or interest in building on their education through further advanced study. Government at the time did not foresee or anticipate the trend toward increased student mobility and demand for transfer arrangements within and between colleges and universities.

POLYTECHNIC VALUE PROPOSITION

The historical structural separation of Ontario’s parallel system has been extremely difficult to overcome. Despite numerous examples of successful college-university partnerships, the number of students pursuing degree completion after a diploma remains relatively small. Ontario is deemed to have the lowest rate of college-university transfer in Canada, with estimates ranging from 5% to 8%. The lack of complementarity between college and university credentials results in poor credit recognition, requiring college students interested in degree completion at university to add considerable time and cost over what in more integrated systems would be a more seamless transfer process.

Despite the poor rate of transfer and credit recognition for college students seeking degree completion opportunities at Ontario universities, students continue to choose universities over colleges. This is partly due to the higher number of university programs and wider availability of university programming in communities across the province. Students may be trading the time and cost advantages of college degree completion for ease of access to university programs.

Most college bachelor programs are concentrated in the Toronto area; however, even in these locations there is considerably less enrolment than at universities. Given the lack of awareness of college degrees, perpetuated by a post-secondary system that does not formally recognize or promote the evolution of credentials that has occurred, learners in Ontario and employers struggling with perpetual skills shortages are denied benefits that occur when polytechnic institutions are formally recognized.

The Ontario government’s stated vision for post-secondary education includes a commitment to putting students first by providing the best possible learning experience in an affordable and financially sustainable way. This ensures high quality and globally competitive outcomes for students and for Ontario’s economy.

In advocating for recognition of the institutional differentiation that has emerged with respect to polytechnics, as described above, an assertion is made that there is opportunity to improve our collective capacity to achieve the government’s vision. The benefits and value proposition presented by the creation of polytechnic institutions as a third component of the post-secondary system can be seen in a number of interrelated areas.

In today’s dynamic economy driven by rapid technological change and disruption of traditional business models and workforce requirements, the need to focus on skills is more important than ever. Canada boasts high post-secondary attainment rates; however, the challenge of finding talent to meet labour market requirements continues to be cited as a top concern and threat to the goals of many businesses. Highly specialized skills—particularly those associated with advanced post-secondary credentials—are in especially high demand and difficult to secure.

While high post-secondary attainment rates may seem incongruous with shortages of highly skilled workers, a disaggregated look at workforce credentials reveals that Canada exceeds all OECD countries in the proportion of the population whose highest level of academic achievement is a diploma. This is good news for the college sector and a testament to the mission of providing access to a wide range of learners, including many from groups traditionally underrepresented in post-secondary education.

What our attainment levels also indicate is that Canada ranks lower than the same group of OECD countries in degree attainment. Low transfer rates and barriers to degree completion from college to university, resulting from lack of system integration, are likely contributing factors, particularly since Ontario accounts for the bulk of post-secondary education in Canada.

The more salient point related to degrees as an important component in supplying a highly skilled workforce is the type of degree. As will be explored in this book, research by Skolnik and others suggests the restrained development of career-focused bachelor’s degrees in Ontario may have a negative impact on matching workforce requirements with industry needs. In several OECD countries performing ahead of Canada in terms of productivity and GDP, professionally oriented education is given an institutional base within a separate tier from universities. Polytechnics or their equivalent account for a much larger percentage of bachelor’s degree activity than in Ontario. In Germany, polytechnics account for one-third of degree activity, in Netherlands 66%, and in Ireland 48%. Ontario colleges and polytechnics, by contrast, offer less than 3% of bachelor’s degrees. The consequence for Ontario is that the majority of university undergraduates seeking to enter the workforce directly upon graduation do not have a similarly career-focused education as polytechnic-prepared degree holders. This may contribute to the workforce challenges widely reported for job seekers and employers as the labour market struggles with skill mismatches.

The large number of university graduates in Ontario without career-focused degrees has led to the growth of professional graduate certificates at colleges. The largest growth is in large urban areas served by ITALs. The applied workforce orientation is attractive to students from undergraduate programs of a more theoretical than practical nature, or programs that may be more general and lacking a specific focus connected to an identifiable occupation or career. Graduate certificates see the strongest uptake from university graduates with an arts and science degree. Typically one year in length, the professionally focused programs are closely connected with industry. Curriculum features work-integrated learning with field placements or internships. When combined with broad foundational knowledge acquired through undergraduate programs, graduate certificates position the colleges offering them as the perfect finishing school, creating highly employable, career-ready graduates.

The growth and popularity of graduate certificates in Ontario is a reflection of students’ desire to enhance career prospects and preparedness for work when graduating with traditional university degrees. If university programs had the same applied focus as college degrees, it is likely the college graduate certificates would not see the high demand that they have.

OPPORTUNITY FOR ONTARIO

The low percentage of programming and enrolment in Ontario college degrees relative to other OECD countries, along with the growth of graduate certificates, suggests that opportunity exists to better align labour market needs with institutional structures. Universities and colleges provide a commonly understood institutional base for the credentials traditionally associated with each sector. Learners seeking post-secondary education at the degree or graduate level would not intuitively look to colleges, given the historical focus on short cycle programs. The binary system has not been modernized at the same pace as the economy, and our post-secondary system is at risk of deteriorating effectiveness. As demonstrated by the experience in other jurisdictions, a more clearly defined institutional type would create better awareness of the differentiation that has evolved over time and assist learners in more informed decision-making with respect to post-secondary options. The ITAL designation is not well known and is less well understood. The term polytechnic is not without different interpretations; however, introducing a new type of institution also presents an opportunity to provide a more distinctive definition that further articulates and develops the differentiation that has evolved.

In addition to supporting learners and providing employers with a more effective system of supplying skills in demand, establishing polytechnics offers opportunities to improve the institutional effectiveness of all colleges. Given an environmental context characterized by continued erosion of public funding, declining demographics for traditional college-age learners, and a dynamic economy driving rapid change in the labour market, polytechnics can be part of a systemic approach to modernizing the post-secondary system. Offering an expanded focus on non-traditional college credentials at select institutions with easier transfer arrangements presents opportunities for all colleges as well as for learners.

Extending the core features of the polytechnic model of education to a system level would build on the distinctive strengths of individual institutions. Looking at areas of complementarity, a focus on enhancing and expanding pathways between credentials would involve the sharing and pooling of resources and expertise between institutions to benefit learners, without adding significant investment. The current ITALs, now accounting for over 90% of college-sector degree activity, could formalize diploma-to-degree completion pathways with institutions in affinity program areas. Non-degree-granting colleges could provide degree access to diploma students by hosting polytechnic programming on-site, guaranteeing advanced standing to students wishing to transfer to a polytechnic, or engaging in hybrid arrangements providing flexibility based on learners’ needs and circumstances. Colleges in rural communities could potentially attract new students by promoting new polytechnic partnerships and offering an expanded program and credential portfolio. This would also contribute to strategies of addressing financial sustainability issues for colleges in communities with demographic decline.

Greater collaboration among colleges leveraging the organic differentiation emerging over time requires a significant paradigm shift, given the historic evolution of the sector in Ontario. When the system was founded in 1967, students were less mobile and public funding was more abundant. As institutions providing local access to learning opportunities, colleges were encouraged to each provide a comprehensive program mix to their respective communities. College catchment areas were established, and recruitment and marketing were not to occur beyond these geographic boundaries. As a result, colleges began to all look remarkably similar.

In this environment, there was no incentive or compelling reason to establish a differentiated program portfolio. Rather than operating as interrelated parts of a coordinated system, colleges maintained an independent approach, particularly with respect to academic program planning and delivery. Government supported the autonomy of colleges, taking a laissez-faire approach and not exercising legislative ability to exert much greater control.

Differentiation in colleges began to emerge organically over time as areas of strength developed, based on institutional priorities responsive to community needs. Emergent differences were exacerbated by the financial impact of wide variations in demographic trends between rural and urban settings. Smaller communities continue to experience population and enrolment decline, while large cities enjoy population growth and increased demand for post-secondary education.

In recognition of the financial pressures and impact on learners and institutions, the Ontario government adopted a differentiation policy in 2015. With less resources to invest, institutions could no longer afford to be all things to all people. With the first Strategic Mandate agreements informed by the differentiation policy, colleges and universities were required to identify areas of program strength and future growth. This was intended to encourage less duplication and greater emphasis on unique or distinctive programming. From the polytechnic perspective, efforts at differentiation have not gone far enough. Restricting the focus to academic strengths and disciplines is creating a missed opportunity to benefit from looking at differentiation through the lens of credentials and institutional type. Strategic Mandate agreements, including those for the 2019–2024 period, are negotiated on a bilateral basis between each post-secondary institution and the provincial government. Collaborative approaches to more integrated planning are emerging in different forms as coalitions of willing partners; however, there is no organized forum or mechanism for true system planning. This will likely only emerge as innovative approaches begin to show positive results and benefits to the stakeholders.

Polytechnics as institutional types are not a new concept. As discussed here, they already exist in Ontario as institutions that have all the characteristics of colleges in terms of the model of education, and are differentiated by a greater focus on non-traditional college credentials. In providing more formal recognition, a stronger institutional base can be created to better focus the strengths of traditional colleges and the large degree-granting ITALs. This would also enhance public understanding and perceptions of differentiation within higher education and build respect for the college sector. The binary system of colleges and universities and its lack of integration is increasingly anachronistic and counterproductive to stated goals for post-secondary education in Ontario. Our system design has not kept pace with the rapid changes in the economy and workforce over the past several decades. A modernized system of higher education will embrace and support the growth of institutions that demonstrate responsiveness and adaptability to the needs of learners and employers.

This volume expands on the value proposition of polytechnics, by exploring the current context in Ontario, describing some of the hallmarks of polytechnic education, and demonstrating examples of polytechnic education across Ontario. Throughout, it is evident that institutions engaged in programming and activities associated with polytechnic education make significant contributions in terms of labour market development, innovation and educational attainment. Their growth and evolution reflect the responsiveness and adaptability of polytechnics to the changing complexities of the workforce and learner needs. Ontario’s success in a global knowledge-based economy requires a modernized postsecondary education system that leverages the benefits, opportunities and greater potential of its unique polytechnic institutions.

References