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RENEWAL
In
the past year, the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) entered into a period
of renewal and adjustment. Phase one of this process took the form of restructuring the
Secretariat in order to group our key services to better meet the expectations and needs
of the membership. As such, the National Services Bureau and International Services Bureau
were replaced by three new interactive divisions - Partnerships, Marketing and Development
and Member Services and Public Policy.
Phase two involved a strengthened emphasis on member services. Front
and centre are our services to our constituency - 175 member colleges and institutes. The
third phase involved the analysis and alignment of our advocacy role. The Association has
started to heighten its emphasis on government relations and advocacy. In the year ahead,
we will continue to strengthen the visibility and accessibility of the college system at
the national and provincial levels and push at all levels for recognition of our issues
and challenges.
Such sweeping changes to an organization are often greeted with
trepidation. However, the rationale behind the shift was welcomed by our membership which
jumped to the highest number of institutional members in over a decade.
As such, the Association achieved many successes in the past year. New
communications vehicles regularly update members on the wide variety of activities
undertaken by the Secretariat on their behalf. Information on the college system and
answers to a multitude of inquiries were made readily available through a new Information
Hotline. Colleges and institutes benefited from the increasing visibility of their
Association in the national media, within federal and provincial government departments
and on the international scene. National and international projects are implemented by
dedicated partnership teams. Our accessibility and transparency has greatly improved our
responsiveness to the needs of our members.
The highlights of the Association's services during the year included
the 1st World Congress of Colleges and Polytechnics. A huge success with close to 2,000
delegates from around the globe and a series of distinguished speakers, the World Congress
served to solidify the reputation of Canadian colleges and institutes as truly world-class
institutions.
Other conferences hosted by the Association included the National
Executive Leadership Institute, designed to train potential new College Presidents, the
Women in College Leadership Symposium, the College and Institute Research Symposium and a
national forum organized by ACCC's Careers Task Group on "Making Sense of Program
Development," as well as the third ACCC Educational Technology Symposium. ACCC also
participated in the Sommet de la Francophonie and chaired the Canadian International
Development Agency's International Cooperation Days conference.
A strong advocacy portfolio included student debt, research in colleges
and institutes, new careers as well as mobility and transferability. Over 86 colleges and
institutes have become signatories to the Pan-Canadian Protocol on Transferability and
Mobility while colleges and institutes continue to promote their distinctive and vast
research and development capacities on the national stage.
On the international stage, ACCC has produced a five-year international
development strategy which will guide the Association in different areas of the world and
build on the export of Canadian educational expertise and experience. In addition to
negotiating the next phase of the Canadian College Partnership Program with the Canadian
International Development Agency, the Association won several new international
partnership projects including a World Bank technical assistance project in Romania for
the Establishment of Regional Adult Training Centres and the CIDA-funded Canada-India
Institute-Industry Linkage project which complements our nine-year history in the country.
In supporting the drive for international exposure for Canadian colleges and institutes,
ACCC headed a trade mission to the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank in
Washington, D.C.
The highlights of the year as shown here can only touch on the dynamic
and complex nature of the Association. At the beginning of a new century, the renewal of
the structure and position of the Association was timely and responsive to the challenges
and successes of Canadian colleges and institutes. In the year ahead, the Association will
continue to review and refine its service orientation to support the growth and
development of its member institutions.
Gerald Brown
President |
