The World of Higher Education Podcast Listen now →

The World of Higher Education Podcast Listen now →

Category: History Lesson

University Rankings and the Eugenics Movement

Over the course of writing a book chapter, I’ve come up with a delightful little nugget: some of the earliest rankings of universities originated in the Eugenics movement. The story starts with Francis Galton. A first cousin to Charles Darwin, Galton was the inventor of the weather map, standard deviation, the regression line (and the explanation of regression towards the mean), fingerprinting, and composite photography.  In other words, pretty much your textbook definition of a genius. At some point (some believe it

Read More »
September 25, 2015 1 Comment

Scholarships, Proximity Talks, and the PQ’s Lost Mojo

In the late 90s, Canada was still seemingly on the edge of a break-up.  But exactly 15 years ago at the Hotel Des Gouverneurs in Quebec City, that started to change, thanks to a scholarship program. Recall: in the summer of 1997, the Chretien government gave in to a long-standing demand of the Government of Quebec, and the province’s chattering classes, and handed-over powers for labour market training programs.  The silence from said chattering classes was deafening.  Partly in retaliation, Chretien decided he’d

Read More »
December 11, 2014 1 Comment

Remembering Polytechnique

Tomorrow is the 25the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre. I remember the trauma of it.  I also remember the way it mobilized people: Now, surely, things would change.  Now, surely, things would be different. Looking at things today, I’m not sure our 1989 selves would be all that excited about how things have turned out. Enough from me, though.  My voice isn’t one that matters today.  Just spare a few minutes.  Go to a service.  Remember the dead.  We still

Read More »
December 5, 2014 1 Comment

Variation in Tuition in the United States

One of the things foreigners always get wrong about the American higher education system is tuition fees.  The external perception of tuition is driven by what’s happening at the famous private institutions, mainly in the country’s northeast.  But that’s not even close to being the whole story. Figure 1: Tuition by Type of Institution, United States, 2014-15               It is true that tuition at private non-profits is pretty high – $31,231, on average; though it

Read More »
November 21, 2014 1 Comment

The Canada Post-Secondary Education Act

History lesson: Back in 1864, Canada West (i.e. Ontario) was getting hot under the collar about a little thing called representation by population.  Since the Durham Report, the two Canadas had been governed under a system that gave both Upper and Lower Canada a veto over legislation.  This had made sense when the two colonies were roughly the same size, but now that Canada West was growing faster, it seemed like a bad deal. The solution to this problem was

Read More »
November 19, 2014 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.

Subscribe

Search Posts

Search Publications

Social Media

Linkedin Youtube Spotify

Recent Posts

More thoughts on...