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Category: Canada

Code Red on the Naylor Report

About two and a half years ago, I said universities and scientists were headed for a catastrophic break because university Presidents were more inclined to gratefully accept whatever new dollars came their way rather than fight for research priorities.  That break may actually happen next week, for evil things are reaching my ears about Tuesday’s federal budget. To be clear: I know nothing for sure about what’s in Tuesday’s budget.  The Liberals are deliberately choosing not to leak anything that

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February 22, 2018 No Comments

The Canada Lifelong Learning Fund

In all the excitement over Christmas I forgot to write about a policy initiative which may or may not find its way into the coming budget.  It’s something called the “Canada Lifelong Learning Fund” (CLLF), and it is among the weakest ideas to float around Ottawa since the Liberals came to power. The idea comes from the Minister of Finance’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth, chaired by McKinsey Global Managing Partner Dominic Barton, which issued a paper called Learning Nation: Equipping

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February 5, 2018 1 Comment

Mind-blowing Ontario Academic Staffing Data (Part 1)

Buckle up everyone.  COU just did what universities have been telling everyone for years was impossible: publishing actual useful admin data on faculty workloads and sessionals from every university in Ontario bar the University of Toronto (speculate away as to why this is: the footnotes imply it’s because it couldn’t put together the data together properly). It’s all right here.  Read it.  It’s the best data ever put together on Canadian faculty. Oddly enough, COU published this yesterday with no fanfare

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January 23, 2018 5 Comments

Canada’s Secret Weapon against Inequality

Inequality is perhaps the great political issue of the 21st century (so far anyway).  And while Canada isn’t exactly a world-beater on this score, we do show up a heck of a lot better than some of our peers – say in the UK, France or certainly the US.  Despite lots of great work by people like Miles Corak, there’s no real agreement as to why this is: is it more robust social programs?  A more powerful union movement?  Our immigration

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January 22, 2018 2 Comments

So, that Finance Committee Report then

Today’s blog is a quick tour of the House of Commons Finance Committee report – released last month – as it relates to science and post-secondary education. For the uninitiated, the Government of Canada’s budget process goes something like this: starting in late spring – maybe two months after the pervious budget – the political side of the Finance Department starts canvassing around government for big ideas (“themes” as they are known in the business).  MPs spend some of their time over

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January 17, 2018 1 Comment
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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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