November 19, 1999
(Education)

The following statement was issued today by Judy Foote, Minister of Education. It was also read in the House of Assembly:

I rise to advise honourable members of efforts by ministers of Education across the country to enhance access and quality in post-secondary education.

Access to affordable and high quality post-secondary education is critical. Earlier this week the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) and Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) announced the launch of a wide ranging review of barriers to the accessibility of post-secondary education.

This accessibility project continues the work of the CMEC that the ministers of Education initiated with their Report on Public Expectations of Post-secondary Education in Canada, released in February 1999.

All premiers endorsed this report in August 1999 at the Annual Premiers' Conference. In the report, the ministers of Education identify what Canadians can expect from the post-secondary education sector in six key areas: quality, accessibility, mobility and portability, relevance and responsiveness, research and scholarship, and accountability.

HRDC has collaborated with the CMEC on its work in post-secondary education through a significant financial contribution and by participating in the development and ongoing activities of this project. Through the CMEC, ministers of Education are working on developing innovative policies in key areas such as transition from secondary to post-secondary education, access as a force for social and economic mobility, the use of technology to enhance access, interjurisdictional mobility, and financing issues.

Ministers of Education and all Canadian premiers have called on the federal government to fully restore the Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST), a portion of which is aimed at supporting post-secondary education. They noted that full restoration is essential to ensuring that post-secondary systems continue to have the capacity to respond to the growing demands of a knowledge-based economy and to assist provinces and territories respond to the issue of student debt.

In this province public post-secondary institutions have been able to freeze tuition levels for two years, thanks to an additional transfer from the province to Memorial University and the College of the North Atlantic.

This measure shows the commitment of this government to enhancing access to post-secondary education to ensure a prosperous future for all the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

1999 11 18                                         11:40 a.m.