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Category: Canada

Statistical Deceptions on Student Debt

Every couple of years, the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) produces a “research paper” to provide a new “evidence-based” spin to back up its eternal demand for free tuition. Last month, they put out a new version, this one entitled The Political Economy of Student Debt in Canada. The theme this time is lightly-recycled Piketty: Canada’s main problems are inequality and rising indebtedness; if we eliminate tuition, that’ll strike a blow against both so wa-hey! The word “neoliberal” appears frequently.

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May 12, 2017 2 Comments

Trade-offs in Apprenticeships

I haven’t worked on apprenticeship projects much in the last few years, but one of my current gigs has got me thinking about the area again.  And one thing that I apparently missed completely was a new (well, new to me anyway) effort to harmonize apprenticeship program sequencing nationally (details here). Wait a minute, you say – weren’t apprenticeships always harmonized?  Isn’t that what Red Seal is all about? Well, sort of.  Red Seal was about harmonizing outcomes.  Basically, Red

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May 11, 2017 2 Comments

Conservative Leadership Platform Analysis

So, I just read through all the thirteen leadership candidates’ websites, looking for their thoughts on all the stuff this blog cares about: post-secondary education, skills, science, innovation, youth, etc. The things I do for you people. Actually, it was a pretty quick exercise because it turns out almost no one in the Tory leadership race places much importance on post-secondary education, skills, innovation, youth.  They seem to care a lot about taxes, and immigration (and to a lesser extent

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May 9, 2017 No Comments

Naylor Report, Part II

Morning all.  Sorry about the service interruption.  Nice to be back. So, I promised you some more thoughts about the Fundamental Science Review.  Now that I’ve lot of time to think about it, I think I’m actually surprised by what it doesn’t say, says and how many questions remain open. What’s best about the report?  The history and most of the analysis are pretty good.  I think a few specific recommendations (if adopted) might actually be a pretty big deal – in

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May 8, 2017 1 Comment

Apprenticeships: Canada vs. Germany

Delayed Trans-Atlantic flights and missed connections eliminated Alex’s time for writing an all new blog today. However, in the wake of this IRPP articleon adopting the German “dual education system” in Canada, we are running this 2013 post on the significant and generally overlooked differences between German and Canadian apprenticeships. Enjoy! Let’s play a game called: “Comparing Canadian and German Apprenticeships Using Actual Statistics, Instead of the Usual Misinformed Anecdotal BS That Passes for Analysis in Canadian PSE Policy Circles”.  We

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May 3, 2017 5 Comments
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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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