Commitment To Higher Education Sector
Harris Rosen was admitted to practice law in Ontario in 1994. Since then, he has headed up a regulatory department in a public company, engaged in private practice, and raised venture capital in his own business. Harris has had considerable experience in administrative law, regulatory, and corporate matters. His clients have included large Fortune 100 Companies, as well as a diverse number of small and medium-sized businesses. On May 1, 2018, Harris established his own professional corporation after leaving the capital partnership of a mid-sized Toronto law firm where he had enjoyed practicing for many years.
Our Services: Education-Specific Issues
During the last five years, the private career college sector has matured considerably, attracting increasingly sophisticated clients. The firm has routinely represented investor groups and other law firms (as regulatory counsel to transaction counsel) on transactional deals involving the purchase and sale of private career colleges and private universities, amalgamations, and other structural changes that are “material” in the eyes of each provincial regulator. These transactions range in size from the hundreds of thousands of dollars well into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Whether you are a foreign or domestic investor, or a local or national law firm, we have been integral in getting large dollar value transactions completed. Contact us today!
We continue to represent a significant number of private career colleges and private training institutions across the country. We routinely advise colleges on regulatory matters, human rights and accommodation issues, labour and employment issues, and other education-specific litigation issues. We also have considerable experience with the Program Approval Registration and Information System (“PARIS”) which both existing registrants and new applicants must use to interface with the Superintendent of Career Colleges. Contact us today!
We act on student discipline issues for both institutions and students. These issues have included very serious issues and include academic fraud and personation issues, violence and hate related issues, and less serious issues which do not require a Hearing or external adjudication process. Contact us today!
We routinely draft student enrolment contracts and other documents to comply with the enabling legislation. The prescribed career school legislation in each province is necessary but not sufficient to meet the requirements of other legislation that has nothing to do with the pedagogical aspects of regulation.
For example, the enabling legislation governing career colleges does not sufficiently address requirements under privacy or human rights legislation. This can be extremely confusing to college owners. We can help. Contact us today!
We assist language schools with an ESL-specific focus on compliance. ESL schools provide foundational language training and vocation-specific language training to all other programs offered by learning institutions wherein English is a second language to the significant number of Canada’s newcomers. Contact us today!
Most corporate training institutions do not wish to be subjected to onerous audit requirements and the intense scrutiny of the regulator. Do you know whether your institution is subject to the provisions of the Ontario Career Colleges Act or its equivalent in other provincial jurisdictions? Don’t wait to get a surprise “knock” on your door! We proactively assist non-registrants with the government’s thorough pre-screening process. Don’t wait until you are caught to find out whether your institution and/or your programs are exempted from regulation. The consequences of getting caught out can be severe. Contact us today!
Distance Education Issues
Distance Education is still the lifeblood of many schools, even post-COVID. There are stringent rules relating to Distance Education in the provinces across Canada. Well before COVID19 tragically kept students outside of the physical classroom, we developed expertise in the regulation of synchronous and asynchronous learning—and distance education more broadly. Distance learning, despite the likelihood of price commoditization and its limited suitability for certain types of programs, has been vital to the survival of many institutions during COVID19. The near future of international student enrolment is uncertain not just in Canada, but around the world. Contact us today!
Public-Private Partnerships
While relatively few, we have considerable expertise advising private institutions which are partnered with public institutions. These are unique arrangements that have been subjected to the politics of two levels of government, with the federal government recently impacting Post-Graduate Work Permits as well as study permits to students attending these institutions, after the provinces had encouraged institutions to invest in international student infrastructure. Private institutional and investor group clients have turned to us to help them pivot fast to avoid revenue erosion consequences flowing from the federal government’s decision-making. We can help you pivot! Contact us today.
Private High Schools
Though these are institutions that do not offer post-secondary school credentials, Harris Rosen was legal counsel to an association of approximately 40 private high schools and is still active in the space. Contact us today!
Private Universities and Degree-Granters
Does your institution yield learning outcomes that are more appropriate to degree-granting than to a diploma or a certificate? If so, call us today! Though also few relative to career colleges (mainly because these institutions require a Minister’s Consent in Ontario and other provinces) we have experience with and are actively involved in the private degree-granting space. Contact us today!
