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Category: Government

Antipodean Student Organization Struggles

With the Ford government being the first to take aim at compulsory student unionism in Canada (he will not be the last; in Alberta, Jason Kenney’s UCP has a similar policy resolution on its books), it is worth taking a more detailed look at how the move to make fees optional has played out elsewhere.  Specifically, Down Under, where these policy ideas were first put into practice in the under the name “Voluntary Student Unionism” (VSU, in Australia) and “Voluntary

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January 23, 2019 No Comments

That Ontario Ancillary Fee Policy in Full

Last week, in the wake of the OSAP/Tuition announcements, I suggested that while most of the initial focus was on the changes to tuition fees and student aid, perhaps the more significant move was the announcement that many ancillary fees – specifically including student unions fees – were no longer to be mandatory and students had to be given the right to opt-out. But what does this mean, exactly?  It’s worth going through the details here because the statement is

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January 22, 2019 1 Comment

That Ontario Tuition/OSAP Announcement

OK, so the Ontario government rolled out its tuition/OSAP announcement and it’s big enough I should probably cover it, so apologies if you were looking forward to the second part about millennials – I’ll pick that up next week. The Government backgrounder is here, but in brief here’s what was announced: 1)      As widely leaked earlier this week, universities and colleges have been told to reduce tuition by 10% in every program for which they receive public subsidies.  This does not apply

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January 18, 2019 7 Comments

Canada’s International Education Strategy Mark II (bis)

A couple of people have pointed out that I may have rushed to some conclusions about the meaning behind the International education strategy.  Isn’t it possible, some asked, that this wasn’t about a new strategy to attract students, but a strategy to send students abroad? (Small aside: that this question is still open five days after the announcement is a little bizarre. If the government had its act together on something like this, we’d know the answer by now.  Certainly, the usual suspects like

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November 27, 2018 No Comments

Canada’s International Education Strategy Mark II

Tucked away almost unnoticed on page 67 of Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s Fiscal Update last week was a fascinating little statement: “To build more skills and provide training that will help support Canada’s international trade and increase global ties, Global Affairs Canada and Employment and Social Development Canada will work together to develop a new international education strategy.” What should we make of this? The initial impression made by this phrasing is not very good.  Sure, it makes sense that within the Government

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November 26, 2018 No 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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