The World of Higher Education Podcast Listen now →

The World of Higher Education Podcast Listen now →

Category: Colleges and Polytechnics

How to Prepare for a Punch in the Mouth

Universities and colleges love their strategic plans.  Plans beget task lists.  Task lists beget work agendas.  Work agendas beget Targets.  Targets beget Annual Evaluations.  And all of it provides a serene sense of control: a belief that we can control the future simply by planning our future work flows. The thing is, it’s mostly nonsense. To see why, consider Dwight D. Eisenhower, who famously said “In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless.  But planning is

Read More »
October 9, 2014 4 Comments

Te Wānanga o Aotearoa

A couple of weeks ago, I promised I would tell you the story of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, the entirely Maori-run polytechnic with over 35,000 students.  So here it is. The 1970s saw significant Aboriginal cultural revivals in many parts of the world.  Aboriginal higher education – or at least the access of aboriginal peoples to mainstream higher education – was a significant part of that.  In Canada, the struggle was mostly about gaining a foothold in mainstream institutions; in

Read More »
September 26, 2014 No Comments

Hosanna! *More* Graduate Income Data!

Okay, so I goofed on Tuesday.  Contrary to what I said, Colleges Ontario actually does publish sector-wide data on graduate incomes six months out – they just don’t publish it with the rest of the KPI data.  Instead, it’s at the back of the graduate outcomes section of their excellent annual Environment Scan (thanks to Glenn for the heads up).  So let’s take a look at what they say. On Tuesday we noted that graduate employment outcomes for college graduates six-months out seemed to

Read More »
September 12, 2014 No Comments

More Graduate Labour Market Data

Yesterday I showed that recent Ontario university graduates’ incomes are taking a beating, notably in Arts and Sciences.  I’m sure this led to a fair bit of crowing among those who claim we have too many students in university, and they all oughta go to college instead because skills, new economy, yadda yadda. The problem with that argument is that college grads are getting creamed in the labour market, too. Now, we can’t compare university and college outcomes in terms of

Read More »
September 9, 2014 1 Comment

Improving Career Services Offices

Over the last few years, what with the recession and all, there has been increased pressure on post-secondary institutions to ensure that their graduates get jobs.  Though that’s substantially the result of things like curriculum and one’s own personal characteristics, landing a job also depends on being able to get interviews and to do well in them.  That’s where Career Services Offices (CSOs) come in. Today, HESA released a paper that looks at CSOs and their activities.  The study explores

Read More »
August 11, 2014 1 Comment

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...