The World of Higher Education Podcast Listen now →

The World of Higher Education Podcast Listen now →

Author: Alex Usher

Wells, Rowat, Hurtubise

Wells, Rowat, Hurtubise A couple of weeks ago, Paul Wells wrote his first column for University Affairs. It was on the very specific and sore point on campuses these days: namely, what seems to be the Growing Estrangement Between Universities and Society. The point he makes, which I think is mostly correct, is that while at the start of the century Canadians (not just governments but citizens) really did seem to believe that the world ran through universities, that really hasn’t

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October 2, 2024 3 Comments

How to (and not to) Talk about Returns on Investment

Late this summer I came across a report from Polytechnics Canada, claiming to be a statement of Economic Impact of Polytechnics across the country. I have rarely read a document that left me with such profoundly mixed feelings, because it exemplified the absolute best and worst of the genre. Long-time readers will know that I have a deep interest in the subject of institutional Economic Impact statements. Five years ago I wrote this piece explaining why I thought the standard practice of

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October 1, 2024 No Comments

In Praise of In-Camera Hiring

One perennial skirmish in Canadian higher education is the question of whether or not candidates for senior administration—in particular the presidency—should have to be publicly identified at the shortlist stage and (preferably) make themselves available for public questioning. Specifically what people want is, in the words of the Memorial University Faculty Association (MUNFA), which is currently having such a skirmish as the university forms the search committee to replace Vianne Timmons, is the following: “…the ultimate short-list of candidates should

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September 30, 2024 2 Comments

Building the Future: Inside Qatar Foundation’s Vision for Education and Innovation

Change of plan today. I was supposed to be interviewing Mary C. Wright about her new book on Centres for Teaching and Learning. However, a scheduling issue arose, so we took the show on the road, around the world, to a place that maybe doesn’t get discussed enough. The city of Doha in Qatar. Thirty years ago, the Emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and his wife, Sheikha Moza, created the Qatar Foundation. Among the Foundation’s most important

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September 26, 2024 1 Comment

OECD Education at a Glance 2024, Part 2

Last week, I showed you some of the coolest data from the new edition of the OECD’s Education at a Glance. However, I didn’t do anything on finances because I was not sure about the Canadian numbers (I’m still deeply puzzled by the numbers in a couple of other countries), but thanks to some very helpful folks at StatsCan, I now understand what is going on and it’s just probably quite bad news for Canada. Let’s start with looking at

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September 25, 2024 No Comments

One Thought to Start Your Day

One Thought to Start Your Day is our founder and CEO Alex Usher’s popular daily blog, brimming with up-to-the-minute insights and informed opinions on today’s higher education industry.

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