Terms of Reference
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Objectives
Foster closer collegial relationships and enhance communication among dual credit partners (institutions, secondary, business/industry), helping to facilitate learner pathways, student mobility and greater integration within the transfer system and in the field/discipline of dual credit. At the request of the Alberta Council on Admissions and Transfer (ACAT), the committee provides recommendations or specific deliverables related to pathways, including admissions and transfer, in the discipline, including:
- Providing a forum for exchanging information and enhancing collaboration and coordination among institutions that provide dual credit instruction.
- Promoting dual credit courses and program equivalency, where appropriate.
- Addressing learner pathways and admissions issues related to secondary to post-secondary articulation and business/industry articulation, where appropriate.
- Clarifying differences and similarities among various partnerships’ dual credit courses and programs, with the aim of assisting future post-secondary students in planning their studies.
- Assisting in development of transfer agreements between institutions delivering dual credit courses and programs.
Membership/Representation
Types of Members
- Post-Secondary Institution, Secondary High School/School Authority, and Business/Industry – Voting Members: An interim Chair was selected/nominated to assist the Articulation Sub-committee in determining the appropriate institutions and organizations to be invited to participate on the committee.
- The committee’s official Chair and Vice Chair were determined by vote at the inaugural meeting. Interested institutions, school authorities, and business/industry that offer dual credit instruction were encouraged to send one representative to sit on the committee. Committee members are required to be competent in dual credit and be familiar with issues related to learner pathways, student mobility and transfer. Committee members should identify an alternate delegate to act on their behalf when the member is unavailable.
- Additional Expert Representation: Other professional, accrediting or representative bodies will be invited to attend to provide information and/or organizational perspectives, as needed.
- Government of Alberta (GoA) – Non-Voting Members: Alberta Education representatives were invited to attend this committee, to support information sharing and addressing education-related issues, notably related to dual credit and secondary to post-secondary admissions. The committee has also invited staff from other GoA ministries, as appropriate, to participate in or observe meetings as guests on a periodic or an ongoing basis, notably those directly taking part in or supporting aspects of dual credit in Alberta, including related to business/industry, post-secondary programs, apprenticeship, and workplace certification.
Process – Membership and Guests
- Committee membership is open to possible participation from all school authorities (with at least one representative from each of the seven zones), all post-secondary institutions in the system, and all interested business/industry partners.
- Education and other ministries participation will be extended as appropriate as non-voting advisory members and/or guests, as determined by the committee Chair(s).
- Representatives from the ATA and ASBA will be invited to attend committee meetings as requested for advisory/observation purposes as needed and not as regular committee members, to be determined by the committee Chair(s); invited representatives would be the ACAT Articulation Committee representatives identified by these organizations for ACAT, when available.
- Representatives from professional/accrediting/representative organizations and other expert organizations or ministries may be invited as guests to meetings where/as needed, to be determined by the committee Chair(s).
- Additional members/representation can be added to the committee at the request of the committee Chair(s) and with ACAT Secretariat support where/as needed to process the request(s) with the appropriate organizations.
Meetings/Costs
Institutions/organizations will pay for their representatives to attend meetings.
The ACAT Secretariat in conjunction with the Articulation Sub-committee organized the inaugural articulation committee meeting and provided the meeting venue. Subsequent committee meetings are hosted by a member organization (institution, school authority, business/industry). The committee will hold a minimum of four meetings per year (approximately end of September, end of November, end of February, and mid-May).
Roles and Responsibilities
Chair
Committee Chairs will be elected at the inaugural meeting and will:
- Sit for three years to ensure continuity
- Serve as the contact point for the ACAT Secretariat
- Support/facilitate use of the ACAT SharePoint site for the committee
- Use the ACAT Secretariat-provided tool(s) and information for articulation committees and/or a committee’s individually developed materials to maintain their own committee membership lists and develop agendas, minutes, institutional updates, reports and feedback
- Canvass committee members for agenda items
- Organize the ongoing meeting(s), including arranging a venue and hosting
- Select a Recorder for committee meetings
- Ensure appropriate guests/stakeholders attend meetings (e.g., appropriate ministry staff or professional bodies)
- Ensure minutes are drafted by the Recorder and validated, circulated amongst committee members and provided to the ACAT Secretariat
- Ensure any issues, recommendations or questions to be addressed by ACAT Council are relayed to the ACAT Secretariat
Vice Chair
Committee Vice-Chairs will be elected at the inaugural meeting and will:
- Sit for three years to ensure continuity
- Serve as an alternate contact point for the ACAT Secretariat
- Assume the Chair’s duties when the Chair is unavailable
Committee Members
- Attend scheduled articulation meetings, informing the Chair when unable to attend and providing a delegate.
- Ensure changes to representation are communicated to the Chair.
- Provide potential agenda items to the Chair prior to committee meetings.
- Circulate minutes amongst colleagues, including their delegates and administrators at their institutions.
- Use/share information on the ACAT SharePoint site for the committee.
Delegates
- Attend scheduled meetings on behalf of a committee member when he/she is unable to attend.
Recorder
- Take meeting minutes.
- Vet minutes through the committee Chair and distribute to committee members upon their approval.
ACAT Council
- Recruit interim Chair, where appropriate.
- Consider recommendations and address issues identified by the Articulation Sub-committee and/or a specific articulation committee(s).
- Communicate and provide direction where specific ministry advice is raised.
ACAT Secretariat
- Recruit interim Chair, where appropriate.
- Work with interim Chair in identifying institutions and stakeholders to be invited to sit as members.
- For the inaugural meeting only, develop agenda, arrange venue and take minutes.
- Ensure recommendations and issues identified by a specific articulation committee(s) are communicated to ACAT Council.
- Monitor membership terms, identify expiring members and notify Chair when new member recruitment is required.
- Support/Act as technical administrator for the ACAT SharePoint site.
- Relay issues that require ACAT Council’s attention.
- Maintain ACAT Articulation Sub-committee records (meeting minutes/membership).
- Provide the appropriate tool(s) and information for specific program area articulation committees to maintain their own committee membership lists, including term length, as well as adaptable templates for agendas, minutes, institutional updates, reports and feedback.
- Communicate ACAT Council decisions related to recommendations or issues identified by a specific articulation committee(s) to the member institutions of the Alberta Transfer System and other relevant stakeholders, as well as to the Articulation Sub-committee.
- Post articulation committee reports and related information on the ACAT website, where applicable.
ACAT Council
- Address recommendations and issues identified by the Articulation Sub-committee and/or a specific program area articulation committee(s).
- Provide recommendations to the Minister, as appropriate.
Articulation Sub-committee Responsibilities/Accounting/Reporting
- Develop and revise effective practices for articulation and supports for and dialogue with articulation committees, as needed.
- Assess the need for articulation in a discipline.
- Create and dissolve an articulation committee(s), as needed.
- Assist in the selection of interim Chairs, institutional representatives and other professional/representative organizations related to the discipline.
- Be accountable to ACAT Council and report through the ACAT Secretariat.
- Demonstrate accountability through the provision of meeting minutes to the ACAT Secretariat in a timely fashion.
- Provide current contact information related to the Chair and committee members to the ACAT Secretariat.
Download the committee's Terms of Reference.