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Category: Universities

Two Economies, Two Universities

There’s an interesting debate going on in American policy circles based on arguments Tyler Cowen advanced in his recent book The Great Stagnation, one with enormous relevance for thinking about the future of the university. The argument is that there are two economies in America today. The first (call it “Economy I”) is composed of the sectors dealing in globally traded goods, which are required to be extremely inventive and dynamic because of the pressure of foreign competition. It is

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April 26, 2012 No Comments

Radical Recovery at Trent

Most of you probably don’t habitually read other institutions’ academic plans, but consider making an exception for this one. “Radical Recovery at Trent” is easily the most interesting strategy document written at a Canadian university in the last three years. Pursuing strategy at universities is tough. Real strategy means building on strengths, which in turn means being able to say that you as an institution are better at some things than others. But, too often, when a university stands up

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April 9, 2012 No Comments

Bibliometrics III: The Leiden Rankings

One of my favourite bibliometric analysis tools is the criminally-underused (at least in Canada) Leiden Rankings. The nice thing about Leiden – apart from it being global in scope – is its web-based, interactive nature. Users can choose comparators by region or country, whether or not to use non-English-language papers and how to normalize for institutional size. Unlike most rankings (e.g., the Times Higher), it’s the user that’s in control. Most importantly, users choose the indicators for comparisons. One can

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March 29, 2012 1 Comment

Equity in Athletics

Two weeks ago, the University of Alberta decided to axe its women’s field hockey team. Here’s why that was so… odd: 1) Money wasn’t the issue. The announcement describes the decision as “part of an ongoing review of budget priorities,” but until the moment it happened, no one seemed aware that any teams were under review. And team members say that funding was not even mentioned during the meeting in which players were informed of the decision. 2) It makes

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March 21, 2012 No Comments

Three Years? Four Years?

There’s likely to be a lot of noise about the relative value of three- and four-year Bachelor’s degree programs over the next few weeks, if this leaked government position paper and this Globe and Mail op-ed are anything to go by. Before everyone gets dug in, though, it would be useful to acknowledge a few basic points. If you’re awarding degrees based on time spent in class, then what makes one given length of time intrinsically “better” than another? Degree

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March 6, 2012 6 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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