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Part of Private career colleges

Private career colleges – Reporting and compliance

Private career colleges must report annually on meeting career training licensing requirements and may be inspected or audited.

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Private career colleges

Records and reporting

Private career colleges are required to maintain student records, with each student’s record filed separately. The files colleges must keep are divided into 4 categories:

  • Industry support

    These records must be updated at least every 2 years:

    • labour market demand for graduates
    • curriculum relevance
    • suitability of admission requirements

  • Instructor qualifications

    Instructor qualifications must be submitted.

    • copies of credentials or evidence of professional designation
    • resumes indicating at least 3 years of related work experience and adequate instructional experience
    • evidence to support any additional hiring criteria

  • Student records

    Student records which must be kept include:

    • record of marks obtained throughout the program
    • student timetable
    • transcripts
    • credentials awarded
    • documentation confirming the withdrawal or termination of a student, if applicable
    • evidence of admission requirements – such as high school transcripts or English language assessment exam results
    • evidence that the institution has confirmed student job placement upon graduation
    • signed Alberta Student Enrolment Contract
    • record of payments to the institution for tuition, fees and books by the student or their funding source
    • record of refunds of tuition and fees to the student or their funding source, if applicable
    • attendance records
    • practicum agreement, if applicable
    • correspondence between the private career college staff and the student, such as:
      • emails or other confirmation provided by the student after graduation advising of their employment status
      • emails or other correspondence relating to a complaint made by the student

  • Annual report backup information

    Other information that must be reported on includes:

    • class lists
    • evidence to support graduation and job placement data

Annual data reports

Every year, private career colleges offering licensed career training programs report their results for the previous fiscal year, which runs annually from April 1 to March 31. Reports are due on April 30 each year.

What private career colleges report

Private career colleges report on:

  • student graduation rate – the percentage of students who graduated from the licensed program, compared to the number of students expected to graduate during the reporting period
  • employment (job placement) rate – percentage of job-seeking graduates who found training-related employment during the reporting period

Job placement information is required for every graduate. A 70% rate for both graduation and job placement is the lowest acceptable amount. Private career colleges reporting results lower than 70% in consecutive reporting periods will face compliance action.

Importance of meeting the reporting deadline

Annual reporting is an important part of meeting licensing requirements. If a private career college does not report program outcomes, their program is considered unoffered. If the program remains unoffered for several consecutive reporting periods, it could affect its licence.

Reporting tools

Reporting tools and templates are available on the Provider SharePoint site (password required).

Compliance

The Alberta government works with private career colleges to ensure they are complying with the requirements of private vocational training licensing in 2 primary ways.

Private career college inspections

We conduct inspections of licensed program providers as required. These inspections help us:

  • observe licensed programs in action
  • meet with college representatives for face-to-face discussions
  • collect records for review
  • discuss current and future program offerings
  • clarify compliance related issues

The colleges are notified in advance of the scheduled date and time of an inspection.

Private career college desk audits

All private career colleges offering licensed programs are subject to desk audits to ensure they are meeting the requirements of licensing.

Desk audits are a series of checks performed to ensure compliance with legislation, the terms and conditions of licensing, and student contracts. Desk audits may be used to look at a range of licensees and their compliance regarding a particular concern or a specific type of program. They may also be used to check the compliance of a licensee in a range of areas, such as record keeping, contracts, admissions, instructor qualifications, and program delivery.

When a private career college is selected for desk audit, the process generally follows these steps:

  1. Private career colleges are notified in advance of a pending desk audit.
  2. The licensee receives a list of specific records that are to be made available for review.
  3. Once the desk audit is completed and a final report is prepared, licensees will receive a copy outlining any non-compliance matters that require attention and a response. A meeting may be scheduled to discuss the compliance issues identified. Serious or repeat non-compliance issues may result in compliance actions (for example, orders, stop orders, licence suspension or cancellation).
  4. The private career college will be notified when all non-compliance matters have been addressed to the satisfaction of the Alberta government.

Effective April 1, 2025, licensees subject to an inspection or desk audit will be charged a fee of $2,000, with an additional $750 fee for each follow-up visit, if applicable.

When payment is required, we will provide the college’s responsible authority with an invoice via email, along with instructions on how to pay the inspection fees online using eServices.

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