Short of an artful forgery, how do you get into graduate school to do an MA or a PhD when you don't have an undergrad degree?

Royal Roads University

Royal Roads University

Laura de Jonge of Calgary found a way.

Ms. de Jonge, now a married mother in her late 40s, had dropped out of high school in the 1970s. She now works for Nexen Inc., an oil and gas development company, in the health, safety and social responsibility department of the firm. It was her boss who suggested an MA a few years ago as way to develop herself professionally. Victoria's Royal Roads University didn't require an undergrad, her boss added.

"What I had to do … was complete a prior life learning assessment which … took into account all my work experience" as well as her extensive volunteer experience in the community. She had also completed several professional certificates, worked as a magazine editor (she founded Birthing magazine), filmmaker, and community advocate.

The assessment was part of what's known as "flexible admissions" at Royal Roads.

"It's a considerable step better than mature admissions," says Dr. Sherman Waddell, co-ordinator of prior learning assessment, "because instead of asking 'How old are you?' we ask 'What is it that you know and can do?' And show us some evidence. And that evidence doesn't have to be a credential from a university or college."

Dr. Waddell says the list of abilities expected from someone with an undergraduate degree is pretty concise: literacy, numeracy, critical thinking, the ability to communicate effectively, to do research and to work independently.

"We're not giving them … a degree, we're giving them advanced standing so they can start at the master's level."

Ms. de Jonge's MA in Environment and Management took her 25 months. There were three "pretty demanding" three-week residencies at the beginning, middle and end. The rest was course work and assignments completed on-line and a thesis.

She did it while working full-time: "It was a juggle."

Dr. Waddell says Royal Roads has "a learning-outcomes-based education philosophy. And as a result we say, 'We're not interested in what you come in with, we're interested in what you go out with.'

"It's harder in a more established institution because there's a lot of history of doing it other ways. … history creates inertia."

Royal Roads has had about 3,000 students enter a degree program via flexible admission.

While many studies have shown students who start or resume study using flexible admission do just as well or better than their credentialed colleagues, (Ms. de Jonge graduated with a GPA of 4.19 out of 4.33 and won the Founder's Award and the Chancellor's Award), success isn't guaranteed.

"Some of these people are going to have difficulties, and we try to warn students," says Dr. Waddell. "A lot of times it's in the writing area. Often that's the case for someone who's had a more technical job. We suggest that they get additional help or tutoring.

"We don't take everyone," adds Dr. Waddell. "Some people think if you breathe and have a chequebook you're in. But it's not so."

There are many institutions across the country that use some kind of prior learning assessment, credential evaluation or other means to help place adult learners appropriately.

Bonnie Kennedy is the executive director of the Canadian Association for Prior Learning Assessment (CAPLA). She says there has long been a precedent for looking at a portfolio in lieu of a baccalaureate (such as in an executive MBA) and now it's an idea gaining ground in other university settings.

But she says a potential student's first job is to learn about the institution where they want to study: "The very first question out of my mouth would be: 'Do you have policies and processes associated with the recognition of prior learning?' And then the next question is: 'Do you have a PLA co-ordinator or adviser who could help me stickhandle through the institution?' … It's hard to express your learning in an effective way if you don't know the standards that are going to be used to evaluate it."

CAPLA is involved in looking at national standards because they've been involved in assessing credentials coming from other countries, "but we really don't have any systems in place to evaluate competencies. And I use competencies and prior learning in the same breath.

"Learning is not education," she adds.

Ms. Kennedy says formal educational institutions have to be inviting to adult learners. Ms. de Jonge echoes that idea, saying she hadn't known how meaningful wearing a cap and gown and attending her convocation would be.

"Because I didn't have an undergrad degree I never really thought I could do something like this," she says. "To be able to go out and pursue post-secondary education ... I didn't really realize it was a dream, but to be able to go and do it was really a dream come true."

Special to The Globe and Mail