ONCAT Capacity Grants

ONCAT Capacity Grants support the development and implementation of learner-centric policies, practices, and pathways at a single postsecondary institution. 

Activities funded by ONCAT Capacity Grants should create transformative and measurable change for Ontario learners by focusing on any of the following elements of learner mobility: 

• Expanding opportunities for learners to move between postsecondary programs and institutions  
• Facilitating recognition of prior learning 
• Maximizing credit that learners receive for their previous education and experience 
• Reducing unnecessary, bureaucratic, or inequitable barriers that impede a learner’s ability to pursue their educational and professional goals 
• Helping learners achieve greater levels of academic success and personal satisfaction with their postsecondary experiences 
• Supporting learners with transitions into the labour market 
   

Here are examples of activities that align with the focus of ONCAT Capacity Grants: 

• Implementing learner-friendly practices for transfer credit assessment (e.g., reducing application costs, expediting notifications) 
• Innovating new methods for the assessment of course equivalencies, the recognition of Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR), or the stackability of micro-credentials   
• Developing or expanding programs that help transfer students achieve greater levels of academic success and personal satisfaction with their postsecondary experiences 
• Enhancing the equity, transparency, and accessibility of transfer-related policies and practices 
• Building administrative capacity to submit and update information to ONTransfer 
• Building administrative capacity to collect, analyze, and report data related to learner mobility (e.g., pathway traffic, student characteristics, academic success, graduation rates)  
• Developing or expanding strategies for recruiting prospective transfer students, especially for opportunities that facilitate entry into the labour market 
• Promoting effective practices of fair, consistent, and transparent credit assessment for your institution’s academic and administrative staff  
• Supporting your institution’s implementation of MyCreds (a platform and website which offers a pan-Canadian document exchange highway and credential wallet for students and graduates) 
• Deepening or expanding your institution’s integration of MyCreds to enhance the secure issuing, exchange, and verification of official digital documents, badges, micro-credentials and diplomas  
• Implementing ideas and strategies that were identified through your institution’s previous participation in the MapIt program  
• Continuing and extending the processes that were developed through your institution’s previous participation in the DataPilot program