University and college faculty in British Columbia are warning the new Degree Quality Assessment Board unveiled last month will lower the quality and accessibility of post-secondary education in the province.

"I fear the real motive is to allow private for-profit businesses to offer B.C. post-secondary degrees without having to meet the same high standards as our public post-secondary institutions," said Rick Coe, president of the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of B.C. "Otherwise, why not just let the private institutions simply go through the existing process and meet the existing standards?"

The board, appointed to oversee the expansion of new private universities and private degree programs, arises from the Degree Authorization Act, passed by the provincial legislature last year. At present, only public and private religious post-secondary institutions have degree-granting authority.

Cindy Oliver, president of the College Institute Educators' Association of B.C., says the Campbell government's emphasis on "privatization" will have serious consequences for students and their families.

"British Columbians place a high value on our public colleges, university colleges, institutes and universities and want post-secondary education to remain public and affordable," she adds.

Noting that the new assessment board is comprised mainly of business people and senior administrators, Oliver said the public should be concerned that a "corporate set of priorities" will be guiding education planning in the province.

"We are losing the voices and perspectives of students, faculty and staff and that is a substantial loss in terms of the way in which new degrees and new institutions are going to be assessed," she observed.

In announcing the board appointments, Advanced Education Minister Shirley Bond said the new degree-granting process is designed to facilitate access to post-secondary education, but offered little details about the criteria by which the board would judge new programs.

That has the province's faculty worried that private degree programs might be judged less rigorously than their public counterparts.

"If we are to maintain the excellent reputation of B.C. degrees, then the Degree Quality Assessment Board must hold private institutions to the same high standards as our existing public degree-granting institutions," Coe says.