Interpretation

1.  In this Act

"agency" means the Open Learning Agency established under section 2;

"board" means the board established under section 5;

"component" means a component established under section 4;

"institution" means

(a) the British Columbia Institute of Technology, and

(b) a college or Provincial institute designated under the College and Institute Act;

"planning council" means a planning council established by regulation under section 18.

Historical Note(s): 1987-62-1.

Agency established

2.  (1) The Open Learning Agency is established as a corporation which has the power to hold land and, subject to section 9, has the corporate powers set out in the Interpretation Act.

(2) The Company Act does not apply to the agency.

Historical Note(s): 1987-62-2.

Purposes of agency

3.  The purposes of the agency are, in collaboration with universities, institutions, boards of school trustees and other agencies concerned with education, to

(a) provide an educational credit bank for students,

(b) coordinate the development of open learning education,

(c) use open learning methods to provide educational programs and services,

(d) carry out research related to open learning education, and

(e) operate one or more broadcasting undertakings devoted primarily to the field of educational broadcasting.

Historical Note(s): 1987-62-3.

Components

4.  The agency

(a) shall establish 3 components which shall be

(i)  the open university,

(ii)  the open college, and

(iii)  the knowledge network,

(b) may, with the approval of the minister, establish any other component it considers necessary or desirable for carrying out its purposes, and

(c) may, with respect to any component, establish educational objectives and guidelines.

Historical Note(s): 1987-62-4.

Board

5.  The agency shall be managed by a board which shall consist of 11 members appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council from among persons nominated by the minister, one of whom shall be appointed chairman of the board by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.

Historical Note(s): 1987-62-5.

Term of office and expenses

6.  (1) A member of the board

(a) shall hold office for a term, not exceeding 3 years, specified by the Lieutenant Governor in Council and, after that, until his successor is appointed, and

(b) may be reappointed to the board, but a member may not hold office for more than 6 consecutive years.

(2) A member of the board may be reimbursed by the agency for reasonable travelling and incidental expenses necessarily incurred by him in the performance of his duties under this Act.

Historical Note(s): 1987-62-6.

Duties and powers of the board

7.  (1) The board shall ensure the proper management of the affairs of the agency.

(2) The board may

(a) appoint

(i)  the president of the agency who is also the chief executive officer of the agency, and

(ii)  the vice presidents of the agency,

(b) designate a vice president of the agency as chief operating officer of a component,

(c) on the recommendation of the president and chief executive officer of the agency, appoint officers and hire employees it considers necessary and determine their remuneration and duties and the conditions of their office or employment,

(d) administer the funds, grants, fees, endowments, revenues and other property received by the agency,

(e) on the recommendation of a planning council established for a component, determine the courses of instruction or programs to be offered by the component for credit towards the requirements for a degree, diploma or certificate, or determine the courses to be cancelled by the component,

(f) provide for the development, setting, conducting and marking of examinations and for the appointment of examiners,

(g) provide for the granting of degrees, diplomas or certificates by a component in its own name,

(h) appoint any committees it considers necessary,

(i) delegate any of its powers, duties, functions or obligations to a committee or a component or to a person appointed or employed by the agency and impose conditions governing the exercise of a delegated power, duty, function or obligation,

(j) require persons to pay fees to the agency or a component in respect of registrations, courses, examinations or any other service provided by the agency or a component pursuant to this Act, and establish the amount of the fees or the method of determining the fees, and

(k) do all things, not inconsistent with this Act, that it considers necessary or advisable to carry out its purposes and exercise its powers under this Act.

Historical Note(s): 1987-62-7.

Bylaws

8.  The board may make bylaws regulating its proceedings and generally for the conduct and management of the business and affairs of the agency.

Historical Note(s): 1987-62-8.

Investments

9.  (1) The agency may invest money that belongs to it and that is available for investment, but the investment shall be only in

(a) securities in which trustees may by law invest trust funds, and

(b) other securities authorized by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.

(2) Nothing in this section precludes the agency from holding a security donated to it or from carrying out the terms of a deed of trust respecting a security.

Historical Note(s): 1987-62-9.

Limitation on liabilities and expenditures

10.  (1) The agency shall not incur a liability or make an expenditure in a fiscal year beyond

(a) the unexpended amount of a grant made to the agency by the government, and

(b) the estimated revenue of the agency from other sources up to the end of, and including, that fiscal year,

unless an estimate of the liability of expenditure has first been approved by the Minister of Finance and Corporate Relations and the minister.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a liability incurred or expenditure made under the Educational Institution Capital Finance Act.

Historical Note(s): 1987-62-10.

Money for liabilities or expenditures

11.  To cover a liability or expenditure approved under section 10 (1), the Minister of Finance and Corporate Relations may do one or more of the following:

(a) increase the grant for operating expenses;

(b) direct the agency to include provision for the liability or expenditure, or part of it, in its budget for the next fiscal year.

Historical Note(s): 1987-62-11.

Short term borrowing

12.  (1) The agency may borrow money required to meet its liabilities or expenditures until its revenues of the current fiscal year become available.

(2) Money borrowed under subsection (1), together with accrued interest, shall be repaid out of the agency's current revenues.

Historical Note(s): 1987-62-12.

Report to minister

13.  (1) The agency shall, as soon as practicable but within 90 days after the end of each of its fiscal years, submit its annual report to the minister in a form required by him.

(2) At the request of the minister, the agency shall make reports and provide information to him in any form he requires.

Historical Note(s): 1987-62-13.

Auditor

14.  The accounts of the agency shall be audited at least once a year by an auditor who is appointed by the board and who is qualified to be the auditor of a reporting company under the Company Act.

Historical Note(s): 1987-62-14.

Powers of the minister

15.  The minister may make grants to the agency and may require the agency or a component to establish the accounting and information systems he considers necessary.

Historical Note(s): 1987-62-15.

Limitation of liability

16.  (1) No action for damages lies or shall be instituted against the chancellor referred to in section 18, a member of the board, a member of a committee appointed by the board, a member of a planning council or an officer or employee of the agency for anything said or done or omitted to be said or done by him in the performance or intended performance of his duties or the exercise of his powers or for any alleged neglect or default in the performance or intended performance of his duties or exercise of his powers.

(2) Subsection (1) does not provide a defence where

(a) the chancellor or the member, officer or employee has, in relation to the conduct that is the subject matter of the action, been guilty of dishonesty, gross negligence or malicious or wilful misconduct, or

(b) the cause of action is libel or slander.

(3) Subsection (1) does not absolve the agency from vicarious liability arising out of a tort that is committed by the chancellor or by a member, officer or employee and for which the agency would have been liable had subsection (1) not been in force.

(4) Subsections (1) to (3) apply in respect of former chancellors, members, officers and employees.

Historical Note(s): 1987-62-16.

Authority to assume rights, etc.

17.  (1) In this section

"Knowledge Network" means the Knowledge Network of the West Communications Authority incorporated under the Society Act;

"Open Learning Institute" means the Open Learning Institute designated as a Provincial Institute under the College and Institute Act.

(2) On a date to be set by order of the Lieutenant Governor in Council,

(a) the Knowledge Network and the Open Learning Institute are dissolved,

(b) the appointment of each member of the board of the Knowledge Network and of the Open Learning Institute is terminated,

(c) all property and rights of the Knowledge Network and of the Open Learning Institute are transferred to and vested in the agency without further act or deed,

(d) the agency is liable for all debts and obligations of the Knowledge Network and of the Open Learning Institute, and

(e) the rights of creditors of the Knowledge Network and of the Open Learning Institute continue and are enforceable against the agency to the same extent as they would, but for this section, have been enforceable against the Knowledge Network and the Open Learning Institute. [The date set by order of the Lieutenant Governor in Council is April 1, 1988; see B.C. Reg. 14/88.]

(3) An acquisition, transfer, vesting or disposition effected by this section may, where necessary or desirable, be evidenced by a written certificate of the minister.

(4) No fees are payable

(a) under the Land Title Act in respect of the registration of an acquisition, transfer, vesting or disposition under this section, or

(b) under the Social Service Tax Act in respect of an acquisition, transfer, vesting or disposition under this section.

Historical Note(s): 1987-62-17.

Regulations

18.  The minister may make regulations and, without restricting the generality of the foregoing, may make regulations respecting

(a) providing for the establishment of a planning council for a component,

(b) appointing the members of a planning council or providing for their appointment by the agency or for their election,

(c) conferring or imposing on a planning council any powers, duties or functions he considers necessary for it to carry out its responsibilities,

(d) providing for the election of the chancellor of the open university and conferring or imposing on him any powers or duties, including the power to confer degrees granted by the open university in its own name, and

(e) declaring that a provision of the College and Institute Act, the University Act or the Company Act applies in respect of the agency or a component.

Historical Note(s): 1987-62-18.

Spent

19-22.  [Consequential amendments. Spent. 1987-62-19 to 22.]

Commencement

23.  This Act comes into force by regulation of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.

Historical Note(s): 1987-62-23.