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Category: Politics

Farewell Cakeism, Welcome Trade-offs, Effectiveness and Efficiencies

Arguably the worst thing that has happened to western society over the past few decades has been the rise of cakeism. Though he hardly invented the idea, the doctrine is linked to former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, through his repeated use of the phrase “my policy on cake is pro-having it and pro-eating it”. Basically, it’s the ideology of pretending trade-offs never need to be made.   I’ve recently mentioned one example of cakeism in action, namely the proposal published

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January 20, 2026 No Comments

The World of Higher Education – Year in Review 2025

Morning all. Today, HESA is releasing The World of Higher Education – Year in Review 2025, the first in our to-be-annual series chronicling how the world’s higher education systems have fared over the past twelve months. You can download it here. Despite taking up something on the order of 1% of global GDP and educating 3-4% of the world’s population in any given year, higher education is, perhaps surprisingly, a field where most of the analytical work is resoundingly national

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December 3, 2025 No Comments

Profit, Education, and Student Grants

One of the less-noticed measures in the November 4 budget had to do with restrictions on student loans. Specifically, it was about banning students attending for-profit institutions from accessing grants provided by the Canada Student Financial Assistance Program (CSFAP). Today, I want to examine the rationale behind this move and its likely effects. But first, some history. CSFAP did not always have a big investment in grants. In fact, it had none at all for the first thirty years of its

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November 18, 2025 1 Comment

Defence/Security Research

I have some news today about a new HESA initiative to convene a National Defence Research Roundtable. More details at the end of the blog. But first, a bit of context on the defence and security research landscape. In recent months, the Government of Canada has committed the country to meeting the NATO Defence Spending Pledge. This pledge is for all members to spend 5% of their respective GDP on core defence requirements and broader defence- and security-related spending by

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November 12, 2025 1 Comment

That Alberta Post-Secondary Review, Again

Just before I headed out on a work/vacation trip (I’m in Costa Rica today), the Government of Alberta dropped the report of the Expert Panel on Post-Secondary Institution Funding and Alberta’s Competitiveness, which I had previewed back here when the panel was formed about a year ago. So, on the way to the airport, I dashed off this blog to give you all the skinny.  First: it’s a good report! Might be the most sensible report on PSE that’s come out in Canada for quite

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October 15, 2025 2 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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