Blog
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.
Search the blog
BC Election Manifesto Analysis 2026
I shouldn’t have to write this blog. This Saturday’s provincial election is completely unnecessary. But we’re having it anyways because the galaxy-brains around Premier Dave Eby couldn’t figure out in time that a catastrophically divided opposition might just become less catastrophically divided if faced with the threat of an imminent
Interprovincial Student Mobility
I haven’t looked at the state of interprovincial student mobility in Canada in awhile (last time was back here in 2021) and today seems like as good a time as any to catch up on the latest data. Ready? Let’s go! First, a quick methodological note here: this data does
The AI Challenge is Coming into Focus
Morning all. I have some thoughts today on how AI is likely to affect teaching and assessment in higher education. A few weeks ago, I was at an event hosted by RBC, which was kind of a fireside chat with Anthropic’s Head of North American Government Affairs, Brian Peters. This
Focus Friday: Oct 16
Hi everyone, Thank you so much to all those who attended and participated in our last Focus Friday on October 2nd. Today, I’ll be joined by Simon Bates for a conversation about learning management systems (LMS) and their role in higher education. We’ll be talking about what these platforms are
New Zealand’s Higher Education Crossroads
As I think I’ve mentioned before, New Zealand has one of the most fascinating higher education policy scenes anywhere in the world. Hardly a year goes by where they aren’t making huge changes to research policy, tuition fees, student aid, or international student rules. Must be exhausting to live there.
British Columbia in a Nutshell (2026)
Morning all. A few years ago, I did a series of pieces on provincial higher education systems (for example, back here). I thought I would return to these five or so years later to see what has changed. I’ll be running these periodically over the next eight months or so,
The Contemptible OSAP Cover-Up
If you have been paying only casual attention to the Ontario Student Assistance file over the past few months and seen headlines like this one from July, where the province suspended several private colleges from the program, and this one from last week, where the province sicced the Ontario Provincial
The Fifteen: October 9, 2026
Hi all. A big, big fortnight in higher education: unprecedented private financial commitments in Pittsburgh, unprecedented public investments in Jakarta, huge demonstrations in Paris, big ambitions in Hanoi, and significant policy changes out of Beijing. Hop on board for the quick tour! That’s all for now – see you back
The AfD and German Higher Education
In many ways, Germany seems like a higher education paradise. Sure, the funding might not be as generous as elsewhere and career progression can be problematic—but basically, academic freedom is highly prized, as are continental connections across Europe, and policymaking within the system is highly consensual. You can’t have everything,
Why Ottawa Can’t Do the Knowledge Economy
I have read two very interesting things in the past couple of weeks. One is Justin Ling’s excellent piece in the Toronto Star about the inner workings of the Carney PMO and what the government thinks it’s accomplishing (tl;dr: as efficient and business-like as the new PMO is, it isn’t
Subscribe
One Thought. Once a Day. Get clear, sharp perspectives on higher education sent straight to your inbox.
Categories
More thoughts on...
-
Academia
-
Access
-
Administration
-
Admissions
-
Apprenticeships, Skills & Trades
-
Artificial Intelligence
-
Budgets
-
Canada
-
Colleges and Polytechnics
-
Data
-
Funding and Finances
-
Governance
-
Government
-
Hello Goodbye
-
History Lesson
-
Humour
-
Indigenous PSE
-
Innovation
-
Institutions
-
Internationalization
-
Media
-
Now Reading
-
Podcast
-
Policy
-
Politics
-
PSE Outcomes
-
Rankings
-
Research
-
Retrenchment Watch
-
Student Aid
-
Students
-
The Fifteen
-
Tuition
-
Universities
-
Worldwide PSE
Enjoy reading?
Subscribe and have Alex Usher’s One Thought to Start Your Day blog sent straight to your email.