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Category: Policy

Performance-Based Funding 101: Measuring Skills

Yesterday,  I critiqued most of the indicators being suggested for the new Ontario PBF system.  But I left one out because I thought it was worth a blog all on its own, and that is the indicator related to “skills and competencies”.  It’s the indicator that is likely to draw the most heat from the higher education traditionalists, and so it is worth drilling into. In principle, measuring the ability of institutions to provide students more of the skills that allow

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April 24, 2019 7 Comments

Performance-Based Funding 101: The Indicators

Ok guys, I’m going to take the rest of the week to nerd out about performance-based funding (PBF) indicators, since clearly this is all anyone here in Ontario is going to be talking about for the next few months.  I’m going to start with the issue of what indicators are going to be used—and fair warning: this is going to be long. (Reminder to readers: I actually do this stuff for a living.  If you think your institution needs help

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April 23, 2019 5 Comments

A Flawed Report on Sexual Violence

You may remember a couple of years ago I expressed some concern about the structure of a survey on sexual harassment and sexual violence being designed by the Ministry of Training Colleges and University in Ontario.  In particular, I was concerned that by trying to go for a census rather than a sample, they would in fact get lower overall data quality (why do a census of a superficial quant survey when you could cut costs by sampling and use

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March 22, 2019 2 Comments

What to Look for in Tonight’s Budget

At 4 PM EST, Finance Minister Bill Morneau will rise in the House of Commons to deliver his fourth budget, and the last one before a federal election in the fall.  What can we expect from the budget on the big PSE-files?  Here’s a quick rundown. Transfer Payments: Status quo. Research: My guess is that there are small goodies in this budget, if only to give them an excuse to reprint everything they did last year in this year’s budget

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March 19, 2019 No Comments

Straight Dope on Learning Accounts

So, le tout Ottawa now seems convinced, given that a) the March budget is allegedly about skills (for the middle class, you know), b) the feds mostly handed the skills portfolio over to the provinces years ago that Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs), are definitely On The Agenda.  Possibly with some language around guaranteeing workers time off for skills training. So, can this work?  Has it worked elsewhere?  Glad you asked. The idea of ILAs are nothing new.  In one form or another

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February 14, 2019 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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