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:
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:
- Private career colleges are notified in advance of a pending desk audit.
- The licensee receives a list of specific records that are to be made available for review.
- 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).
- 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.