The College Sector Committee for Adult Upgrading: Your Sectoral Network

There are 22 Anglophone colleges and 2 Francophone colleges in Ontario. The College Sector Committee (CSC) is responsible for co-ordinating activities related to the delivery of the LBS Program in the college sector. The CSC is a sub-committee of the Association of Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology of Ontario (ACAATO) reporting through the Training and Development Co-ordinating Committee (T&DCC). The CSC is funded by MTCU to:

• enhance communication between the College Sector and the MTCU
• represent the College Sector in MTCU initiatives
• conduct research
• manage literacy development projects
• educate key stakeholders including the general public provincially about adult preparatory programs
• support professional development

The CSC has a provincial executive committee which meets bi- monthly. Each of the 4 regions (Central, Northern, Eastern and Western) has two representatives on the committee. In addition there is one representative from the Francophone colleges on the committee. Regional program managers me et quarterly to discuss issues of regional and provincial concern.

An important communication and professional development tool of the CSC is the quarterly newsletter, College Matters, which is distributed to all colleges and networks. The CSC has also pub lished a number of project reports relating to practitioner training, the participation of Ontario Works clients in LBS programs, retention, numeracy and post secondary admission. These can be found on the CSC website: http://www.collegeupgradingon.ca.

The CSC has also supported professional development for LBS college staff through regional training events. These events bring staff together to participate in workshops on topics of interest and to meet in subject working groups. Currently, the CSC is exploring alternate means of professional development for LBS staff, including electronic discussion groups and provincial training.