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Category: Data

Higher Education Data Glasnost

Many people complain that there is a lack of post-secondary data in Canada.  But this is actually not true.  There are tons of data about; it’s just that institutions won’t share or publish much of it. Let me tell you a little story.  Once upon a time, there was a small, public-minded higher education research company that wanted to create the equivalent of Statistics Canada’s university tuition fee index for colleges.  The company had completed a project like this before, but

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October 8, 2015 1 Comment

Youth Unemployment: Some Perspective, Please

Every once in awhile, you’ll hear folks talking about the scourge of youth unemployment.  If you’re really lucky, you’ll hear them describe it as a “crisis”.  But how bad is youth unemployment, really? Well, the quick answer is that you can’t really separate youth unemployment from general unemployment.  As Figure 1  shows, one is a function of the other. Figure 1: Youth Unemployment Rates, 15 and Over vs. 15-24 Age Groups, Canada, 1976-2015 (Source: CANSIM 282-001.  Seasonlly-Adjusted)      

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September 24, 2015 4 Comments

The China “Crisis”

It’s no secret that China dominates the world market when it comes to sending students abroad.  About 20% of all globally-mobile students are from China; in countries like the US, Canada, and the UK, they are far and away the number one source of foreign students.  (In all three countries, Chinese students account for as many foreign students as the next four source countries combined.) Now every once in awhile – more and more frequently these days – you get some

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September 21, 2015 No Comments

Visible Minority Numbers Rise Sharply

I was poking around some data from the Canadian Undergraduate Survey Consortium the other day and I found some utterly mind-blowing data.  Take a look at these statistics on the percentage of first-year students self-identifying as a “visible minority” on the Consortium’s triennial Survey of First Year Students: Figure 1: Self-Identified Visible Minority Students as a Percentage of Entering Class, 2001-2013               Crazy, right?  Must be all those international students flooding in. Er, no.  Well,

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September 15, 2015 4 Comments

Better Post-Secondary Data: Game On

On Saturday morning, the US Department of Education released the College Scorecard.  What the heck is the College Scorecard, you ask?  And why did they release it on a Saturday morning?  Well, I have no earthly idea about the latter, but as for the former: it’s a bit of a long story. You might remember that a little over a year ago, President Obama came up with the idea for the US Government to “rate” colleges on things like affordability, graduation rates, graduate earnings

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September 14, 2015 No Comments

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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