Proposed Changes to Policy 5401, Program Development and Credentials
The FSA will hold an online meeting on the afternoon of Wednesday, November 22, 2023 to discuss the following matter with members. Please email Matt Greaves (matthew_greaves@bcit.ca) for an Outlook invitation.
As outlined in the Vice President’s Report at the October 25, 2023 AGM, the FSA is closely following BCIT’s proposed changes to Policy 5401, Program Development and Credentials, including any related procedures attached to that policy (such as 5401-PR1, Credentialing of Programs). The key area of concern for FSA Members is the proposed change in minimum credits for credentials, especially for diplomas: the draft policy language lowers the credit count to 75 from 110 for diplomas. Implementation of any proposed changes may also be impacted by the policy that defines and determines credit hours, Policy 5012, Assigning of Credits to Courses, which is also under review. These hyperlinks are for the existing policies. To see the proposed changes, click here and look under “Draft policies for review” (login may be required).
The proposed changes have just been released to the wider BCIT community. for 30-day community consultation, which ends November 30, 2023. The FSA will be recommending extending this review window given the busy time of the year and gravity of these proposed changes. Because of the advocacy of the FSA and our members, the deadline for community consultation has been extended to January 31, 2024.
As discussed at last week’s AGM, the FSA Board of Directors has engaged in discussions about this issue with educational leadership at BCIT and will continue to do so. In addition, your Board of Directors is forming a working group (including Board and general FSA members) to provide a channel for membership feedback to be delivered cohesively and impactfully to BCIT leadership. As we did with the attendance policy issue last year, the FSA is planning a formal response to the institute as well as gathering responses from members. In addition, we encourage all members to share their concerns and feedback directly with BCIT by emailing EDCO_policy@bcit.ca, ideally after collegial discussion with faculty colleagues in your Department.
Stay tuned for more information delivered weekly in the Weekly Bulletin. You can also share your questions and concerns with the chair of the FSA working group, Vice President Shannon Kelly (shannon_kelly@bcit.ca). Please copy the Member Engagement Officer, Matt Greaves (matthew_greaves@bcit.ca).
*This post was updated on November 6, 2023 to include the November 22 meeting and on November 15 to reflect the new community consultation deadline.
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