Program Advisory Committees (PAC)

Faculty participating in the pilot of the Faculty-Industry Co-mentorship (FICM) project often reached out to our PAC members as a first point of contact when looking for an industry co-mentor. Ideally, and often the case, the PAC member was also an alumni, or had recently hired graduates from our programs.

Under the Ontario Ministry of Colleges, Universities, and Research Excellence and Security framework for programs of instruction for colleges of applied arts and technology,

“The board of governors is to ensure that an advisory committee for each program of instruction or cluster of related programs offered at the college is established and is made up of a cross-section of persons external to the college who have a direct interest in and a diversity of experience and expertise related to the particular occupational area addressed by the program. The board of governors is to establish in by-law the structure, terms of reference, and procedures for program advisory committees”.

In 2017, Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan), supported by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), produced a report entitled “Academic-Employer Connections in Colleges and Institutes: The Role of Program Advisory Committees”. The report contended that “[a] sustained collaboration with industry and employers ensures that the education and training provided by colleges and institutes respond to the current and emerging needs of the labour market and of communities.” (p. 4).

Key benefits of faculty-industry co-mentorship to the Post-secondary organization:

• networking opportunities, and promotion of institution
• access to talent (student to industry, industry to College as faculty)
• immediate access to trends, data, and knowledge gaps
• exchange of resources, people, equipment, labs and knowledge
• research and innovation opportunities
• co-op, work integrated learning, internship opportunities

Key potential benefits of to industry partner:

• training and development of employees on a just in time basis, in-class and online
• opportunities to give back as alumni
• access to new employees and potential customers
• Increased individual/company/ industry profile in community

References

Academic-Employer Connections in Colleges and Institutes: The Role of Program Advisory Committees Final Report, Knowledge in Power Consulting Inc. for Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan), (January 2017).

Arrants, G. (2011). Advisory Committees Project Job Insurance. Techniques: Connecting

 Education & Careers, (November/December 2011), 8-9.

 Biggerstaff, P. (no date). Addressing the Challenges of Growing an Effective Advisory

Committee. The CTE Journal, 4(2), 26.

Davis, J.L. and Davis, H. (no date). The Learning Organization Implemented in Education

Through Advisory Committees. Education, 130(1), 114-117.

Days, M.A. and Brogdon, R.E. (2001) Faculty Perceptions of Advisory Committee

Effectiveness at a Two-Year Technical College. Education, 110(2), 194-198

Hightower, T. (2006). Advisory Groups: A New Model. Community College Journal,

 (October/November 2006), 7.

Lu, J. (2004). The Role of Advisory Committees in Universities. Journal of Teaching in

Travel & Tourism, 4(4), 47-54.

Ritter, B. (1994). Ten ways to revitalize your advisory committee. Vocational Education

 Journal, 69(2), 16.

Schaeffer, D.M. and Rouse, D. (2014). Effective Academic Advisory Committee

Relationships. Contemporary Issues in Education Research – First Quarter 2014,

 7(1), 23-29).