Amidst declining student interest, 10 Universities across Ontario are working together to protect upper-year language programs.
Announced on Feb. 4, Queen’s Faculty of Arts and Science (FAS) received funding from the Ontario Council on Articulation and Transfer (ONCAT) Collaboration Grant program to develop a cross-university language program, which Queen’s will be spearheading. The project will create an online synchronous shared framework that enables institutions to offer upper-level language-acquisition courses collaboratively.
This means that students from the 10 universities will be able to enrol in language classes through their university, but the classes could be delivered by one of the 10 different institutions that are a part of the new collaborative programming.
In an interview with The Journal, Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning), William (Bill) Nelson said that development and collaboration between the universities are just beginning.
Although little has been set in stone or determined yet, Nelson expects the programming to be delivered synchronously online, meaning lectures will be held online at the same time each week, and the Universities will need to collaborate on their timetables. Nelson also shared that the classes will be provided as electives for any student to take.
He shared that the new programming is being created in response to a long-term decline in student enrolment in upper-year language acquisition courses. While introductory classes remain popular, fewer students are continuing into third and fourth-year levels, putting programs at risk, with Nelson adding that these issues exist “across the sector.”
Nelson explained that Queen’s will be leading the programming because the University was confronted with financial pressures earlier than most of its peer institutions. Facing minimum enrolment requirements and shrinking upper-year classes, the University was among the first to recognize that a collaborative approach could sustain advanced language programming.
According to Nelson, the University has been combining different-level language classes, which he described as “not great,” prompting Queen’s to take on a leading role in the new language programming initiative.
“What we want to do instead is provide a more robust offering by bringing in students from other universities into that classroom, rather than trying to mush together the different year classes. And so, it’s a strategy of sustainability,” Nelson stated.
The project will focus on developing a common competency framework to ensure consistent transfer credit across institutions.
“It really is transferring credit consistency,” Nelson added, “It has to be that a student takes, say, Spanish 100 here at Queen’s and wants to take a second-year Spanish or a third-year Spanish at another university. That has to be recognized across the University.”
Much of the grant’s funding will support the alignment of institutional systems, including registration processes, academic integrity policies, and student supports.
“The hardest part is going to be getting the universities and bureaucratic systems to work together,” adding that “about two-thirds” of the grant will go towards dealing with the bureaucratic systems of universities.
Faculty and students will shape the language network’s development, with early efforts focused on aligning systems. According to Nelson, the universities will “lean” on the language faculty to build a shared competency framework and ensure consistency across institutions, while student input will guide course design and accessibility.
The project is expected to unfold over the next 18 months, with much of the structural and administrative groundwork happening first. Nelson predicts the Queen’s will begin offering new language courses under the cross-university framework in the 2027-28 school year.
Tags
FAS, Language Programs, ollaborative programming, Ontario Council on Articulation and Transfer, Ontario Universities
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