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Category: History Lesson

The North American Higher Education Area

There was a fascinating little story last week about a contretemps at the American Association of Universities (AAU), where the executive committee made a controversial decision to expel McGill University and the University of Toronto, largely on the grounds of needing to spend more time focussed on “American issues”. I am sure this would have had an enormous effect on public opinion in Canada (wot, o my god, so nationalist, Trump/nativism gone mad, etc), if anyone in Canada had the

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October 18, 2019 4 Comments

From the Shelves of HESA Towers—Soviet Education

Sometimes, I think back to 40 or 50 years ago and imagine what my job would have been like and I realise it would have been more or less impossible.  My shtick is mostly “the guy in Canada who knows what’s happening elsewhere” – and back then it was practically impossible to know what was going on in other countries.  There were some books, of course, but they were necessarily occasional and tended to touch only on the most basic

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October 4, 2019 2 Comments

Canadian PSE History Through Election Manifestos: the 2010s and a Historical Perspective

This is part five of a five-part series.  Just showing up now?  See Monday (1949-62), Tuesday (63-74), Wednesday (79-93) and Thursday (1997-2011) to catch up. I dwell much on the 2015 election today.  Most of you probably remember it reasonably well, and if you don’t, then you can click on these links to see details on that year’s Liberal platform, Conservative platform, NDP platform, Green platform, the various science platforms and an overall analysis here.    What was maybe a bit surprising in historical perspective about the 2015

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September 27, 2019 No Comments

Canadian PSE History Through Election Manifestos: 1997-2011

This is part IV of a series.  Catch up with Part I, Part II and Part III.  We have arrived at the modern, post-Redbook manifesto period, where promises get costed, fiscal frameworks are explicit, and parties hew more closely to their promises.  At least in theory. During the Chretien-Martin years, the Liberals were, well, inconsistent.  In 1997 they talked small (their only real promise was the introduction of a small set of grants for students with dependents) but in office

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September 26, 2019 No Comments

PSE History Through Election Manifestos: 1979-1993

Late to this incredibly hip party on Canadian PSE history?  Catch up with the previous two installments here and here. The late 70s to mid-90s were maybe the ghastliest period in Canadian history.  Economically, they were full of unemployment, inflation and debt.  Yet our politics were driven not by economics, as they would have been in normal countries, but by national unity: a referendum in 1980, constitutional conferences in 1981, repatriation in 1982, the Meech Lake Accord in 1987, three

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September 25, 2019 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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