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Category: Policy

Canada AI Strategy and Higher Education

Morning all. Today is a special blog to cover an important Ottawa policy development. Back in June, the Government of Canada released its National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, with the somewhat awkward subhead “AI for All”. Due to a packed blog schedule, I didn’t have time to really get to it. But now I can! So here goes: First, it’s not a real strategy, obviously. Ottawa-drafted strategies never are. Real strategies have a reasonably-well sketched out desired end-state and a theory

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August 20, 2026 No Comments

Blue Skies Ahead

Morning everyone. Today is the last blog for a few weeks (though there will be a podcast tomorrow and a Fifteen on Friday). Normal service will resume on September 8th.  For my June send-off, I often paint a pretty solemn “state of PSE” picture. Not gonna lie: 2025-26 has been a bit of a rough year. However, with the exception of British Columbia (sorry guys, you’re pretty much toast), I am pretty sure our sector has already hit bottom in

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June 10, 2026 1 Comment

That Was the Quarter That Was, Spring 2026

Q2 isn’t quite over, but since tomorrow is the last blog of the academic year, today is the day to review what’s been happening globally over the last couple of months in a self-imposed 1200-word limit. Buckle up. The story of the quarter – for all of the last six quarters, really – is the ongoing mutilation of the American Science system. Where to start? The firing of the National Science Board? The attempt to limit foreign collaboration in science?

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June 9, 2026 No Comments

The Knowledge Coalition

The Netherlands has one of the most knowledge-intensive economies not just in Europe, but in the entire world. Despite its small size, it has many world-class universities, a remarkably collaborative research culture, deep ties between academia and industry — basically everything you’d want to stay at the forefront of the global economy. And yet, the Netherlands has not been immune to the factors that have hampered the drive for innovation in many other countries, most notably lack of funds and

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May 21, 2026 No Comments

Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, 2005-2026

Two weeks ago, the Government of Ontario tabled Bill 101, the Putting Student Achievement First Act, 2026. Appended to this Act, which mostly deals with K-12 education, is a completely unrelated schedule, which abolishes the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO). The backgrounder to the bill blandly says that  “(in order)…to reduce duplication and administrative burden, the government is proposing to absorb the accountability and performance mandate of the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario into the ministry through this legislation.”

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April 27, 2026 1 Comment
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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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