Thursday, May 30, 2002

Canadian Colleges Exchange Student Transcripts Online By KAREN BIRCHARD Higher-education institutions in British Columbia unveiled a new service on Tuesday for transferring student transcripts over the Internet, a move the colleges say will save considerable time and money. The first phase of the Electronic Data Interchange involves 7 of the 27 postsecondary colleges in the province, with the majority of the remainder expected to join by the end of the year. Most of the money for the project, which relies on a server at the University of Texas at Austin, has come from the provincial government's Ministry of Advanced Education. The first phase of the program has cost about $91,000 to set up. There are about 250,000 requests for transcripts every year in the province, because many students take courses at more than one institution under the terms of an articulation agreement. Until now, the transcripts have been sent through the mail. The savings in stamps alone would pay for the first phase of the project, said Graeme McNeil, manager for the project at the Centre for Education Information. "At 60 cents a stamp, even without considering the cost of paper and envelopes, the savings are substantial with e-transfers," he said. The University of British Columbia has had an electronic-transcript-exchange system with Douglas College and Kwantlen University College for several years, and officials are looking forward to the provincewide expansion, according to Susan Peters, assistant registrar at British Columbia. "When the grades are sent to us electronically, we can match them to the student's application and complete an evaluation all in the same day," she said. Students can then be notified much faster about the admission decision. The seven institutions included in the first phase are British Columbia Institute of Technology, Douglas College, Kwantlen University College, Malaspina University-College, Okanagan University College, Simon Fraser University, and the University of British Columbia. Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

Justice Department defends Title IX, seeks dismissal of wrestling coaches' suit Supreme Court ruling in patent case expected to benefit universities U. of Michigan chooses Mary Sue Coleman, now at U. of Iowa, as system's new president 12 new chief executives announced Canadian colleges exchange student transcripts online Ball State U. will use online videoconferencing for international seminars