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Category: Canada

A Decline in Apprenticeships?

[the_ad id=”12709″] A few years ago, I made the observation that Canada’s big run-up in apprenticeship numbers was highly correlated with the commodity price super-cycle (in particular, the price of oil) and that an era of low energy/commodity prices might lead to a big decrease in demand for apprentices.  Time to check on that prediction. So, first thing to note is that apprentice numbers are down a bit over the last couple of years.  Probably not as much as expected if one

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June 14, 2018 1 Comment

Aurora College

The Government of the Northwest Territories published a Foundational Review of Aurora College, which is causing something of a stir north of 60.  Recent times have not been good for the college.  In early 2017, there was pressure from the Government to cut Social Work and Teacher Education programs (a decision later rescinded); soon afterwards the Government eliminated the college’s entire Board of Directors and replaced it with a single administrator before the review (one suspects there are a lot of stories here, but NWT

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June 12, 2018 1 Comment

The Canadian Way of Quality Assurance

Occasionally, I write pieces noting how oddball Canadian higher education is in international context, usually in ways that are poorly understood.  I want to do that again today, specifically with the notion of external quality assurance, a topic so foreign to much of Canadian academia that it sounds entirely made up.  We recognize it for program accreditation in certain (mainly professional) fields, but the idea that institutions are held accountable this way is largely unknown to most Canadian universities. In most of the world,

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June 5, 2018 6 Comments

Ontario (Dumpster Fire) Manifesto Analysis

You may have heard that there is an election on in Ontario.  I tried my best to leave the province for the duration but I’m back now, and holy Moses I wish I weren’t.  It is truly godawful.  A dumpster fire, as the kids say.  But duty calls, and so, forthwith, the traditional HESA platform analysis. Let’s start with the Liberals, whose platform on higher education is essentially that from the last budget: a commitment to a student aid program of targeted

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May 29, 2018 No Comments

FutureSkills Lab: Told You So.

A short one today because I’m still theoretically on vacation and have to catch a train (Nagano!) Remember that RFP I told you le tout Ottawa was talking about?  It’s out.  You can read it in all its glory here. Apparently, the government thinks there is some non-profit organization out there (provincial governments and for-profits are forbidden from bidding) which can do the following (quoted from the bid): Identify, analyze and measure trends in the labour market for in-demand skills over the short and

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May 25, 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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