With election night, the World Cup getting under way, and tomorrow being Friday the 13th, it seems like as good a time as any to shut down the blog for the summer – I apologize to those of you who were hoping for one last rant on election results (though you can probably catch my thoughts over on twitter, where my handle is @AlexUsherHESA). Starting Monday, this blog will be on a once-a-week schedule until August 25th, when normal daily service will resume.
We’ve got an interesting program of research going on at HESA Towers over the summer, and we’ll have some very interesting material for you come the Fall, especially around internationalization. I’ll be spending a bit of time Down Under to get the skinny on some of the big changes currently happening there in higher education, and will report the findings back to you. And we’ll have some new work on affordability that I think you’ll rather enjoy (or, at least those of you who don’t hate-follow me will enjoy it).
But before I sign off, two very quick requests:
1) My summer reading project is to read as many institutional histories as possible (thrill a minute at HESA Towers, never a dull moment). If you know the name and author of your university or college’s history, could you send them my way so I can find a used copy online?
2) You guys read my stuff every day (well, most days, anyway). Are there subjects you want to hear more about? Less? If you can take a couple of minutes to let me know, I’d really appreciate any feedback you can take the time to provide.
Have a great summer, everyone.
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Re books about Ontario university history: For Waterloo, the one you would want to read is McLaughlin, Kenneth (1997) Waterloo: the unconventional founding of an unconventional university. Written by a “lifer” so sometimes more anecdotal and less than objective, but a fascinating account of the obstacles to an institution breaking the mold. I particularly enjoyed the comments from Western’s Senate in turning down the directions proposed by what was then a satellite campus, forcing the new university to go its own way…
That is a good book, I agree. McLaughlin (at least I think it was him) did another one for Waterloo’s 50th – more pictures. Some quite hilarious (the CIAU-championship all-white, all-bearded Bball team from the mid-70s is great)
As someone who reads this blog almost every day (on skipped days I just catch up), I always find your analysis both informative and entertaining (you’ve mastered cheeky, methinks). The comparisons with other institutional systems worldwide – which I know is part of your professional schtick – does put things in perspective for this Canadian reader. If you were a genie giving out wishes (or even a Lortie in a pink Lincoln delivering briefcase dreams), I would really like to read more about sessional/PT employment that cuts through the neoliberal mush offered by BoGs who speak of “flexibility” and “freedom” (whose?). As most of us know, there are two sets of books at unis on that subject: the public one where there is really no data because “we can’t keep track of their comings and goings” (to quote Horwath: “bullspit”), and the real one that is lodged in the black box of HR and payroll that knows precisely how many of them are teaching from one semester to the next.
I said three wishes, right? Ok, number 2. One somewhat neglected area is the question of university libraries and their budgets given the move to digital-everything etc. That could include journal subscriptions etc. Is there a correlation or a causal connection between research rankings and fully stuffed physical library with a swank budget?
3. Do more of your amusing dialogues like you have in the past week. You’ve a gift, and if you ever fall off a horse and decide to walk away from HESA, you’ve most likely a fine career in writing script comedy for a fringe festival.
Thanks for some good reads this past year. I’ve not always agreed with what you say, but it would be a dull blog if we all agreed all of the time.
Thanks for that Harvey. I always say, if I’m not annoying my readers at least 25% of the time, I’m not doing my job. Have a good summer.
I’ll miss the blog over the next few months. I really appreciate your efforts and often wonder how you manage to do this daily.
As somebody who works in the Ontario college system, I’m interested in more content about colleges (as opposed to universities). The CAAT collective agreement expires at the end of August, and it would be interesting to see your thoughts about the positions and strategies.
Have a great summer yourself.
Thanks, Brett. Would love to do more on colleges. I’m always a bit trepidatious b/c I don;t know enough about them. But I’ll try to find ways over the coming year.
Lots about the [Review of Funding for Schooling ]— ‘The Gonski Report’ and its remedies applied to Canada and Northern Territory, especially to the rapidly growing indignenous populations.
Should small Polytechnics and the barely surviving (without “foreign students) third level regional universities be closed, moved?
Academic publishing in Australia, viable?
How active is the National Library of Oz in bringing data, records, archives, ephemera to the masses?
How much did the Canadian Harry Messel (who did two degrees simultaneously at Queen’s) change science education in Australia? Is there evidence that great teachers stick? Is his retention strategy outlined in the interview with Robyn Williams right for Canada, as it was for Sydney?
Is Radio National and Triple-J a model for popular mass education for TVO, CBC?
I wasn’t sure where to post this, so delete if it’s too far off topic or too obvious, but I just had my eyes opened a little more by this observation by Joseph Heath. http://induecourse.ca/the-bottleneck-in-u-s-higher-education/