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Category: Students

The STEM-Arts Reversal Part II

Last week I did a blog about changes in applications to Ontario universities by field of study which included this graph, which seems to have freaked a lot of people out. Figure 1: Applications to Ontario Universities by Field of Study, 2005-2018 But this is just an indication of student preferences.  So I wondered to myself: have Ontario’s universities actually adapted to this shift and changing their admissions and enrolment patterns, or do we have a lot of frustrated wannabe-

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March 19, 2018 No Comments

The Great STEM-Arts Reversal

It’s always good, once in awhile, to check up on application statistics, just to check up on demand for education.  Ontario, thank God, has a system that allows you to look at applications system-wide.  A few years ago, everyone was panicking about falling application numbers because of a five percent fall in 2013-2015, mostly caused by a significant fall in the number of 18 year-olds. So how have things been since then?  Well, it turns out that application numbers have stabilized.  In

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March 14, 2018 2 Comments

Two Ways to Improve Student Government

It’s that time of year again, where across the country students become interested in student government.  Between now and the end of March (depending on your location) wannabe student leaders will be traipsing around campuses, giving 30-second class talks, putting up posters, and making promises of one sort or another.  Like welcome week and spring break, it’s one of those campus rituals by which you can measure the passing of the seasons. One of the surprising things (to me anyway)

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January 19, 2018 2 Comments

Field of Study (oh the humanities!)

This is part II of a blog on new enrolment data. I’ll be focussing on the universities data today because the change there is more dynamic.  (I know, I know, college peeps: I don’t pay enough attention to you.  I’ll try to make this up to you next week). So let’s look at the division of undergraduate enrolment for a second.  Figure 1 shows the split between fields of science.  The Big Six are Social Science & Law (20%), Business/Commerce/Administration

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January 10, 2018 5 Comments

The Canada-Is-Falling-Behind-on-Study-Abroad Fallacy

If there’s one drum Canadian universities love to beat on international education, it’s that Canada is falling way behind other countries in terms of students gaining international experience during their studies.  It’s a great story, except for one tiny thing: it’s not true.   It’s really not true. Check out, for instance, this data below, from the most recent OECD Education at a Glance, which shows the percentage of total students from each country who are enrolled abroad (Data is from Table C4.3, for

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November 2, 2017 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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