Skip to content Skip to navigation

Notifications

Website maintenance may cause short outages or slow response times from November 6 at 10 pm until November 8 at 5 pm.

Part of New and proposed legislation

Strengthening higher education and professional governance

Bill 38 would support open, welcoming campuses, transparent tuition, clearer student conduct standards and streamline professional regulation.

Skip to On this page

Status: Bill 38, the Advanced Education Statutes Amendment Act, 2026, was introduced on November 3, 2026
Ministry responsible: Advanced Education 

Overview

If passed, Bill 38, the Advanced Education Statutes Amendment Act, 2026, would support students through clearer conduct standards, fair processes and a new approach to regulating tuition fees, while strengthening accountability across the post-secondary system. The bill would also further the modernization of regulated professions governance.

The bill would amend the Post-secondary Learning Act to create the legislative framework for a new approach to tuition, add requirements for institutional neutrality and freedom of expression policies and support fair student conduct processes. The bill would also make targeted changes to the Professional Governance Act to ensure the new regulatory framework works as intended and to simplify how some engineering and geoscience professionals are regulated.

Under the Post-secondary Learning Act changes, ministerial orders could set tuition maximums for programs or program groups, with institutions setting tuition within those limits. Future regulatory amendments would cap increases for existing domestic students at 2% in 2027-28. Institutions would administer their own policies and codes under minimum requirements detailed in forthcoming regulations. Under the Professional Governance Act changes, professional technologists and professional licensees would form one professional limited licensee class regulated solely by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta.

Key changes

The Advanced Education Statutes Amendment Act, 2026, would amend the Post-secondary Learning Act and the Professional Governance Act:

  • Post-secondary Learning Act

    Tuition

    • beginning in 2027-28, the Minister of Advanced Education would be able to set maximum tuition amounts for programs or groups of programs through Ministerial Order
    • institutions would continue to set tuition within the applicable maximums
    • during the transition, tuition increases for existing domestic students would be limited to 2% in 2027-28. This protection would be established through future amendments to the Tuition and Fees Regulation
    • regulations would outline the factors the minister must consider when setting maximums, supporting transparency while recognizing differences among programs

    Institutional neutrality and freedom of expression

    • Bill 38 would establish minimum requirements for institutional neutrality and freedom of expression policies at public post-secondary institutions and independent academic institutions. Further policy requirements would be outlined in forthcoming regulations
    • institutional neutrality would apply to formal positions adopted or issued by an institution on political, social or ideological matters unrelated to its academic mission. It would not apply to the individual views of students, faculty or staff
    • the changes would not restrict the academic freedom of faculty or the lawful expression of students, faculty or staff
    • institutions would develop and administer their policies. The minister could direct institutions to consult with their campus communities and review submitted policies for alignment with minimum requirements

    Student codes of conduct

    • government would be able to establish minimum requirements for student codes of conduct at public post-secondary institutions, including academic misconduct, non-academic misconduct, sexual and gender-based violence. Further requirements would be outlined in forthcoming regulations
    • institutions would continue to develop and administer their own codes and address individual cases
    • the minister could direct institutions to consult with their campus communities and review submitted policies for alignment with minimum requirements

  • Professional Governance Act

    Professional technologists and professional licensees

    • the bill would make technical and administrative amendments to support implementation of the Professional Governance Act, align language and continue professional regulatory organizations’ respective current governance models under the act
    • Bill 38 would also end joint regulation of professional technologists by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta and the Association of Science and Engineering Technology Professionals of Alberta
    • professional technologists and professional licensees would become one professional limited licensee class regulated solely by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta

Read the Bill 38, Advanced Education Statutes Amendment Act, 2026 fact sheet to learn more.

Next steps

Post-Secondary Learning Act changes are anticipated to come into force in spring 2027.

Professional Governance Act changes will come into effect upon proclamation of that Act.

The merger of professional technologists and professional licensees into one professional limited licensee class would take effect after the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta and the Association of Science and Engineering Technology Professionals of Alberta are both continued under the Professional Governance Act.

News

Related