Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan; french: Collèges et instituts Canada) is a national association formed in 1972 to represent the interests of its member institutions to government and industry.
[Colleges and Institutes Canada (n.d.). ''About CICan''. Retrieved June 26, 2015, from http://www.collegesinstitutes.ca/about/] Membership is voluntary and open to publicly funded community colleges in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
or institutions that may also be referred to as an
institute of technology
An institute of technology (also referred to as: technological university, technical university, university of technology, technological educational institute, technical college, polytechnic university or just polytechnic) is an institution of te ...
,
CEGEP
A CEGEP ( or ; ), also written cégep, CÉGEP and cegep, is a publicly funded college providing technical, academic, vocational or a mix of programs; they are exclusive to the province of Quebec's education system. A loanword from French, ...
, or University with a college mandate. CICan currently has 142 member institutions.
[Colleges and Institutes Canada (n.d.). ''CICan Membership Directory''. Retrieved March, 2022, from https://www.collegesinstitutes.ca/our-members/member-directory/]
Early history
CICan (formerly the Association of Canadian Community Colleges) began in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
with a temporary home in
Centennial College. It was to be the voice of Canada's Colleges at a time when the very fragmented collection of 10 provincial systems was just beginning to emerge as a full partner in post secondary education. The focus was to be an active promoter of access to learning for adults and community-based students not just in Canada but in developing countries. Early College Presidents such as Paul Gallagher (
Dawson College
Dawson College (French: ''Collège Dawson)'' is an English-language public general and vocational college in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The college is situated near the heart of Downtown Montreal in a former nunnery on approximately 12 acr ...
), Doug Light (Centennial-George Brown), Gordan Wragg of
Humber College
The Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning, commonly known as Humber College, is a public College of Applied Arts and Technology in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1967, Humber has two main campuses: the Humber North c ...
and Yves Sansouci saw Colleges as an empowerment movement for less advantaged Canadians and brought the fervour of this mission to forming the Association. In this they borrowed heavily from the US Community College movement but went much further with their international determination.
Movement and growth
In 1991, CICan moved to the nation's capital in
Ottawa so that it could work more effectively to influence policy with the National Government on behalf of its members and also be closer to
CIDA to create stronger developmental linkages between Canadian Colleges and counterparts in the developing world. CICan also needed to strengthen its effectiveness with
Francophone members and Ottawa was a much more rational location to achieve this. With support from CIDA and contract success with ADB,
the World Bank
The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development G ...
and others, CICan became one of Canada's largest international development contributors in the 1990s, applying the knowledge resources of its member institutions. With partnership programs in the
Caribbean, Asia,
Anglophone
Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the ''Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest language ...
and
Francophone Africa and finally the newly freed nations of Europe, by the end of the 1990s the Association had helped build bridges and shared experience in building College and community based and employment centered education with much of the world. Literally hundreds of Canadian College teachers in technology, business, health and other fields were able to strengthen less advantaged institutions in emerging nations. But the days of the college "movement" and the founders' energy to spread the message of accessibility and community responsive higher education to all countries, were drawing to a close.
Recent history
Today, CICan has become very effective in service provision and representation of its members interests to a fuller range of Federal Ministries within
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. It is now an important contributor to national human resources development policy along with its University counterpart, Universities Canada (formerly the Association of Universities and Colleges in Canada). It has developed a new focus on the links between industry and the Colleges and plays a useful role in this area. The price for this has been the slow decline of its international leadership in supporting the emerging skills training and adult learning institutions in the developing world. A second major cost of the more targeted focus has been the restructuring of its Board from that of constituency representation (students, faculty, administrators, College Board members and College Presidents from each region of the Country) to a Board of Presidents only. The loss of this national forum for discussion of learning and the principles of inclusiveness by the full range of partners in the institution was seen to be offset by the benefits of a clearer focus on financial and management issues. Finally, the sense of the uniqueness of the colleges has been blurred by their pursuit of degree granting status as they respond to the market demand of faculty and graduates for more prestigious visibility and higher academic status.
See also
*
Higher education associations and organizations in Canada
This is a list of higher education associations and organizations in Canada. These are groups relevant to the structure of higher education in Canada. It includes those that support teachers, staff, students, institutions, research, and related gro ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colleges and Institutes Canada
Trade associations based in Canada
Higher education in Canada
College and university associations and consortia in Canada