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Category: Institutions

Enhancing Quality

We’ve got a provincial election in Ontario in something like 100 days (as if Omicron and Ukraine weren’t depressing enough), so I thought I would put out a policy suggestion with respect to higher education that all parties could follow, if they were so inclined.  Specifically, a suggestion with how to promote quality in universities. To give you a little bit of background, in Ontario “quality assurance” takes one of two forms.  If you are a new organization trying to

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February 24, 2022 2 Comments

A Tech Talent University?

Late last week, Sheldon Levy, former President of Sheridan College & Ryerson University, former Deputy Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities of Ontario, and current Interim President of University Canada West (UCW) wrote an op-ed in the Globe and Mail about the tech talent shortage in Canada and why existing universities may not be up to the challenge of ending it.  When someone like Sheldon Levy talks, everyone should listen. The op-ed is a follow-up to a white paper that

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February 23, 2022 No Comments

The Evolution of Micro-credentials and Short Courses

It has been about a year since I last took a look at micro-credentials and I want discuss how I see things evolving in this space. The most important thing to note is that there remains a massive disconnect between those people who think micro-credentials are building blocks towards credentials – that is, that they should be courses or groups of courses which are both independently coherent and can build towards larger “macro-credentials” like a Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree, and

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February 15, 2022 6 Comments

DIY Economic Impact Studies

If there is one thing that drives me spare about Canadian universities’ and colleges’ government relations operations, it’s their obsession with economic impact studies, and their habit of wasting tens of thousands of dollars every couple of years to do new ones.  You all need to stop.  It’s not just because no one believes any of the data (or rather, the people at whom these are aimed fully understand that since no opportunity cost analysis ever accompanies these studies, they

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February 3, 2022 No Comments

Community College Revenues, 2019-20

I haven’t looked at community college finances recently and Statistics Canada just released the most recent FINCOL survey data, so it’s good time to return to the subject.   I’ll stay focussed on the revenue side rather than the expenditures side, because frankly it is a lot more interesting (the expenditure side does not change much year to year and if you really want to examine that, take a look at Chapter 3 of The State of Post-Secondary Education in Canada,

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February 1, 2022 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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