Name Change Application for a Private Organization Seeking Ministerial Consent under the Post-Secondary Education Choice and Excellence Act, 2000 The Secretariat Postsecondary Education Quality Assessment Board 900 Bay Street 23rd Floor, Mowat Block Toronto, ON M7A 1L2 Submitted: Friday, September 20, 2019 1 | P a g e Contents: Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………………….3 Section 1: Nomenclature and Changing Environment…………………………………………….3 Section 2: Criteria to use “University” ………………………………………………………...…4 Appendix A: Classroom Capacity Report……………………………..………………………….9 Appendix B: Academic Standards Committee Mandate……………...…………………………10 2 | P a g e Application to Replace “University College” with “University” by Redeemer University College Executive Summary Redeemer University College is a member in good standing of Universities Canada. Redeemer University College, as an attendant part of entering the Organizational Review process with PEQAB, is seeking to change its name from Redeemer University College to Redeemer University. Over the previous 10 years or so nomenclature has shifted toward a more binary understanding of college/university such that “university college” nomenclature for independent institutions presents challenges, especially around market and brand. Redeemer substantially meets the criteria set out in Section 10.1 University of the 2018 Manual for Private Organizations. 1. Nomenclature and the Changing Environment Over the past decade a shift has been underway in terms of the use of the word “university college” for institutions with a “narrower range of programs or specific mission” as defined in Section 10.4 of the Manual. As part of its constituting legislation PEQAB is to ensure ongoing alignment with changes in nomenclature and practice in other jurisdictions and in the sector. The shift in usage of “university college nomenclature” has occurred with institutions in the United States, in other Canadian provinces, and in Ontario. In Ontario and elsewhere today, there is a clear popularly understood binary between independent colleges and universities, whether publicly assisted or privately funded. Some universities have subsidiary bodies known as university colleges, but those are affiliated institutions under the umbrella of the university and those university colleges grant their degrees under the university name. The degree programs and 39 major programs of study Redeemer offers are not offered in Ontario colleges but are typically university degrees. The shift toward a more binary popular understanding of terms is reflected in changes throughout higher education. In jurisdictions in Canada, other institutions with narrow or specific missions, or without any or only very few graduate programs have moved from “college” or “university college” to “university” when granting undergraduate degrees typical of a university. Relevant cases from Ontario include Algoma University and the Ontario College of Art and Design University. Especially in Alberta and British Columbia, there has been significant nomenclature shifts with some examples as follows: Caribou College (1970) University College of the Caribou (1991) Thomson Rivers University (2005) Fraser Valley College (1974) University College of the Fraser Valley (1988) University of the Fraser Valley (2008) 3 | P a g e Malispina College (1969) Malispina University College (1988) Vancouver Island University (2008) The King's College (1979) The King's University College (1993) The King's University (2015) Mount Royal Junior College (1931) Mount Royal College Mount Royal University (2009) Ambrose University College (2007; amalgamation of a number of institutions) Ambrose University (2014) Concordia College (1921) Concordia University College (1995) Concordia University of Edmonton (2015) The most relevant of the above cases to Redeemer’s situation is The King’s University, which like Redeemer emerged out of the Reformed Christian tradition and which has no graduate programs and offers a similar range of programs to Redeemer. Finally, instances in the United States are presenting Redeemer with competitive challenges in Ontario. Two examples include Reformed Christian institutions of higher learning. This past year, Dordt College in Iowa became Dordt University in a nomenclature shift that reflected the education it offered. Similarly, Calvin College, another Reformed Christian university in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is undergoing a nomenclature change this Fall and will now be known as Calvin University. In part, both of these institutions recognize that their efforts to recruit in Ontario will be enhanced by these changes as “college” in Ontario typically is understood to mean an institution offering technical and applied credentials and degrees rather than university degrees. The shift in popular nomenclature understanding is reflected in Redeemer encountering increasing confusion in the market about whether the school offers Bible College degrees, which is does not; applied arts and technology diplomas or degrees, which it does not; or whether it does indeed offer 4-year Bachelor’s degrees as one would find in Ontario’s publicly assisted universities, which Redeemer indeed does do. There is confusion experienced by employers and student prospects, and a change in nomenclature would benefit Redeemer’s prospective and current students. 2. Section 10.1: Criteria to use “University” 2.1 Legal Authorization in Ontario Redeemer is legally entitled to offer Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees at the undergraduate level and to offer the post graduate degree, Bachelor of Education. These rights are granted by various Acts of the Ontario Legislature. Redeemer University College was officially founded on December 12, 1980, when the Ontario Legislature passed private member’s Bill 48, “An Act to Incorporate Redeemer Reformed Christian College.” On June 25, 1998, the Ontario Government passed Bill Pr17, which granted Redeemer College the authority to offer Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees. Prior to that time, the college conferred a 4 | P a g e Bachelor of Christian Studies degree which was recognized by Universities Canada (formerly the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada) as comparable to the Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree. In view of its status as an undergraduate university, the Ontario Legislature approved a change in institutional name from Redeemer College to Redeemer University College on June 22, 2000 (Bill Pr19). On June 26, 2003, the Ontario Government passed Bill Pr14, granting Redeemer the authority to offer a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) degree. On December 10, 2003, the new teacher education (B.Ed.) program was granted initial accreditation by the Ontario College of Teachers and on April 4, 2008, the program was granted general accreditation by the Ontario College of Teachers. Currently, Redeemer offers 39 different majors and streams that lead to either a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Education degree. For the Acts constituting Redeemer’s Charter, please see Appendix 2.1 of the Organization Review Application. 2.2 Institutional Charter including “University” Nomenclature The Acts, or charter, constituting Redeemer include the Act (Bill Pr19) of 2000 changing the institution’s name to Redeemer University College, thereby granting Redeemer the right to include “university” in its name. Please see Appendix 2.1 of the Organization Review Application. 2.3 Mission of University Teaching and Scholarship The mission statement of Redeemer, approved by the Board of Governors in 1988 is “first, to offer a university level liberal arts and science education which is Scripturally-directed and explores the relation of faith, learning, and living from a Reformed Christian perspective; and, second, to support research and creative endeavour in this context.” To help execute this mission, Redeemer faculty are hired and promoted through a rigorous interview process and expected to maintain the highest standing in their respective fields. Tenure and promotion are dependent on research and creative endeavour and the dissemination of those endeavours in the form of teaching, publication, practice, and presentation. The Mission Statement can be found on page 5 of the Board Policy Manual – see Appendix 1.1 of the Organization Review Application. 2.4 Degree and Program Range Redeemer currently offers a Bachelor of Education degree beyond its Bachelor of Science andBachelor of Arts degrees. Redeemer has programs in Kinesiology, Health Sciences and Business that at most other Ontario institutions would result in BHsc, BKin and BBA degrees being awarded. Due to Redeemer’s quality assurance history in the province, especially the exclusion from the Council of Ontario Universities in 2010, and its limited act, to date Redeemer has not awarded these degrees. Moving forward, once Redeemer has clarified its ongoing status in the province, which it is currently seeking to do through PEQAB, and to clarify its position as an Ontario university, Redeemer will work to develop new degree programs. 2.5 Degree Level and Curriculum Design Redeemer offers a post-graduate degree in the B.Ed. and while it is the intention to add graduate degree programs in the coming years, Redeemer does not currently do so. The criteria indicate 5 | P a g e that it is “normally” the case, that those using “university” have degree programs. As noted in Section 1 above concerning nomenclature, other institutions now