Auditor General Report on Colleges

Auditor General Report

Here is the December 2021 Auditor General Report on Ontario’s Public Colleges: AR_PublicColleges_en21

Excerpts from the report:

“We found that the Ministry’s oversight of these public-private college partnerships has not been effective. For example, the Ministry did not act when certain public colleges exceeded the Ministry’s enrolment limits at their partnership campuses and has not put in place compliance mechanisms. Although not under the purview of the Ministry, we also found that the quality assurance processes were not reviewed in a timely manner after these partnerships formed.”

“Public colleges are increasingly reliant on tuition fees from international students to remain financially sustainable. In 2020/21, public colleges received a total of $1.7 billion in tuition fees from international students, enrolled at both their home and public-private college partnership campuses, which represented 68% of colleges’ total tuition fee revenue. Meanwhile, international student enrolment represented 30% of the total student enrolment.”

“Limited college oversight of international student recruitment agencies. Public colleges use many recruitment agencies with offices located around the world to attract international students. Our in-depth review of four selected colleges found that none of them have established a formal policy to guide the selection and removal of recruitment agencies, and that they have limited oversight of their third-party agencies to confirm whether those agencies are providing services with honesty and integrity.”

“Under public-private college partnership agreements, public colleges provide their curriculum to their private career college partner. Public colleges retain a portion of the fees paid by each international student enrolled in programs delivered by the private partner. The private career college partner hires instructors who deliver the public college curriculum, provides facilities for students, and manages the day-to-day operations at the partnership campus. Students who graduate from programs delivered by the private career partner colleges obtain a public college credential issued by the public college.”