At this year’s annual conference, the National Association of Career Colleges (NACC) recognized the hard work and dedication of a longtime champion of the career college sector. 

Hartley Nichol was made an honourary member of NACC during the Ontario Association of Career Colleges (OACC) & NACC joint conference held in Niagara Falls on May 4-6, in recognition of his contributions to the career college sector and his work on behalf of its students.

Hartley was the former owner of RCC Institute of Technology, the only registered career college in Ontario that is able to grant degrees.  There, his passion for education helped him to establish RCC Institute of Technology as a career college that is widely recognized as focusing on real academic value and student success.

As a founding member of OACC in 1973 and Past-President of NACC, Hartley has been an important part of the growth and success career colleges in Canada have seen in the last forty years.

Hartley was a member of the National Advisory Group on Student Financial Assistance, the National Education Organizations Committee and the Education/Training Reference Group to the Ontario Training and Adjustment board, and he is currently the Chair of the Training Completion Assurance Fund Advisory Board.

Throughout his time working in the private career college sector, Hartley has been committed to achieving equitable treatment for students of career colleges, in areas such as students’ access to financial aid.  He has also worked tirelessly to gain recognition for this sector as being a fundamental part of Canada’s educational landscape.

NACC thanks Hartley Nichol for his dedication to advancing our sector and is thrilled to welcome him as an honourary member.