PSIPS is a web-based application system designed to support the post-secondary program proposal and review processes for new degree and non-degree programs at BC's public post-secondary institutions and degree programs for institutions governed under the Degree Authorization Act (i.e. private institutions and out-of-province public institutions).
Your institution must first contact the Ministry at 250-387-1138 to receive a username and password for access to the system. The username and password will be assigned to one individual at your institution who will act as the institutional contact.
The system is accessed through a web browser (Internet Explorer or Netscape). Within the PSIPS application, there are links (underlined words) that allow you to navigate from screen to screen. There are also buttons that perform save actions and navigate to screens. The use of browser buttons for navigation is not recommended. See the User Guide for detailed explanations.
No, the system will allow you to save your work at logical break points. For example, you may decide to just enter the basic proposal information and attach your proposal PDF at a later time.
For BC public institutions, a process has been established to allow institutions to review and comment on each other's proposal submissions. This peer review process is open for 30 days after an institution has submitted a proposal for review.
All degree proposals under review at BC public and private and out-of-province public institutions are made available to the general public for comment for a 30-day period on the Degree Authorization website.
This requirement allows everyone to post and view documents, regardless of the operating system or hardware used to create the document or attachment. The only requirement is that all users have Adobe Acrobat to create and read files.
Help is available in a number of ways: Instructions are provided on each screen, a detailed user guide is available (in PDF) on the Home page, and an overview presentation is available at the Home pages. If you have additional questions you may also contact the Ministry at 250-387-1138.
If you try to open a PDF file and get the message "object label badly formatted", then change the following setting of your Adobe Acrobat Reader program and try again. From your Start menu, open Adobe Acrobat Reader. From the top menu, select Edit and then Preferences (at the bottom of the list), and then from the Category column on the left, choose Internet. From there, make sure that the box next to "Display in PDF Browser" is unchecked, and that the box next to "Allow Fast Web View" is checked.
The PSIPS application requires the use of the Adobe Acrobat Reader to view attachment documents. When an attachment is opened, it should display in a separate window than the PSIPS application. During our testing we have noted that some institutions have their Adobe Acrobat Reader set to display PDF files within their web browser, which means that a separate window doesn't open. While the system will still function in this case, it requires the user to click the BACK button from the open document to return to PSIPS and is not as clean as having the attachment appear in a separate window.If you try to open a PDF file and get the message "object label badly formatted", then change the following setting of your Adobe Acrobat Reader program and try again. From your Start menu, open Adobe Acrobat Reader. From the top menu, select Edit and then Preferences (at the bottom of the list), and then from the Category column on the left, choose Internet. From there, make sure that the box next to "Display in PDF Browser" is unchecked, and that the box next to "Allow Fast Web View" is checked.If you need assistance with your Adobe Acrobat configuration, please contact your institution's IT support desk. If they are unable to resolve this, please contact the Ministry for further assistance.
For information about the quality assessment process, please visit the Degree Authorization website. For information on non-degree proposals, please contact the Ministry at 250-356-7263. For all other proposals, please contact the Ministry at 250-387-1138.
