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Category: Canada

“Consulting and Advising”, Ottawa-style

I received a note from someone in a federal ministry in Ottawa a couple of weeks ago.  It asked, would I be interested in having dinner with Minister (name withheld)?  You know, look into new policy initiatives, want to talk to a few experts, break bread together etc.  Sounds like fun, I said.  But you know that, for my sins, I live in Toronto, right?  Not Ottawa. Would this dinner invitation come with an airline ticket attached, or was I

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February 26, 2019 1 Comment

Advice for Young Student Politicians

At most Canadian universities, student election season is about to start.  So, today, a quick note for anyone out there thinking about joining the ranks of student representatives.  First, if you’re in Ontario, you need to know there’s no guarantee at all about what kind of organization you might be heading.  No one knows how the fee opt-out (opt-in?) system will work and what effects it will have on union finances.  Few student unions have reserves for more than a couple of

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January 31, 2019 1 Comment

That Globe Feature on Data Gaps

The big longread event in this weekend’s papers was, without question, Shannon Gormley’s piece in Macleans on the Thai Cave Rescue (if you haven’t read it yet, stop everything and do so.  I’ll be here when you get back.  Amazing, right?  OK, let’s move on.) Anyways, the second most important longread was the big Globe and Mail feature on Canada’s data gaps, which was actually two pieces, one on data gaps generally and one specifically on Statistics Canada and why the agency is not very good.  There was much applause in the

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January 28, 2019 No Comments

College Finance Data, 2016-17

A few months ago, I promised you all an update on college finances when Statscan finally got around to updating its FINCOL tables.  Well, that day is here. Unlike universities, which have seen their budgets grow in real terms by about 25% over the last decade, growth in college budgets has been a lot slower – only about 14% – and nearly all that growth has come from student fees, since government support has been essentially flat.  In total, college

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January 14, 2019 No Comments

Measuring Social Mobility in Higher Education

It is a universally acknowledged truth that while nearly every higher education policy maker in the world is required to discuss The Imperative of Accessibility, almost no one defines or measures it.  Because God forbid access policies, especially Canadian policies, be informed by evidence. It’s not like it’s impossible to do.  In the UK, the University and College Application Service simply analyses the postal codes of applicants and students and use that to track changes over time.  Are student entry rates

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November 28, 2018 1 Comment

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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