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Category: Funding and Finances

Europe/ Canada: Same/ Different

Good morning from the Brussels-to-Paris Eurostar, where I am hanging out with the good folks of the University Vice-Presidents’ Network on our study trip to Belgium and France. We’ve had some excellent meetings, including a really fascinating visit to KU Leuven (one seriously well-run university), and a chance to catch up with some old friends at the European Universities Association. And I just wanted to pass along some of the similarities and differences I am seeing between Europe and Canada right

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May 1, 2024 1 Comment

Budget Commentary 2024

Good (very early morning) all. Please find attached HESA’s Review of the 2024 Federal Budget. It’s a complicated budget with a lot of moving pieces, but the HESA Towers team did an amazing job last night in putting it all together for your enjoyment/edification. My take on this budget? Well, it is a difficult one to parse. There’s an effective cut to international student mobility. There’s an increase in funding to apprenticeships and First Nations’ students. This seems like a good trade. And

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April 16, 2024 1 Comment

Alberta’s Bill 18

A lot of people are getting very upset about this. Personally, I think the bill itself is not really what’s objectionable here and most of what people are working themselves into a lather about. What is Bill 18? It’s meant to be a mirror of a piece of legislation in Quebec known as M-30 (English version here). What M-30 does is that it effectively forbids all sub-provincial public entities from receiving money from the Government of Canada without checking first

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April 16, 2024 1 Comment

60 Years of a “National” Student Assistance Program

The Canada Student Financial Assistance Program (CSFAP)—neé the Canada Student Loans Program (CSLP)—turns 60 years old this weekend. The story of how it came into being and how it still manages to function carries important lessons for the functioning of Canadian federalism, particularly when it comes to making “National Programs.” Education is, of course, a provincial responsibility. It’s part of the deal that made Confederation possible: Quebec could only consent to a national government with representation-by-population government if there a

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April 10, 2024 No Comments

A Skills Agenda is an Infrastructure Agenda

Since it is budget season, and I am increasingly depressed about the prospects for better higher education funding, I thought I should share some musings I have had recently about how to make a better case for funding. I think there is a better story available than the one the sector has been using. And it even has the advantage of being true. Ready? Here it is. As a country, we are losing the skills race because we aren’t investing

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March 11, 2024 2 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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