Message from the Minister and Accountability Statement

It is an honour to present the 2004/05 Annual Service Plan Report for the Ministry of Advanced Education.

Our 2004/05–2006/07 service plan outlined an ambitious agenda with challenging targets. Although I have only been the Minister of Advanced Education for a short time, I am pleased to say on behalf of the ministry and our post-secondary partners that we are proud of our achievements over the past year. These achievements are recounted in detail on the pages that follow.

We have accomplished a great deal, but we still have much to do. We have only just begun the largest expansion of the public post-secondary system in 40 years, an expansion that will improve the existing infrastructure and add 25,000 more student spaces by 2010. We are also launching a range of strategies to increase literacy in the province as part of government's goal of making British Columbia the most literate jurisdiction by 2010. Additionally, we will continue increasing opportunities for students to train in high demand fields such as nursing, medicine, skilled trades and engineering. We are encouraging further growth and cooperation in post-secondary research, building on our reputation as a world class research centre. We will continue working to fairly balance education costs among government, institutions and students while ensuring affordable access to post-secondary education. And we will persist in our efforts to expand the education choices available to students across the province.

The 2004/05 Ministry of Advanced Education's Annual Service Plan Report compares the actual results to the expected results identified in the ministry's 2004/05 Service Plan. I am accountable for those results as reported.

Honourable Ida Chong
Minister of Advanced Education

June 14, 2005