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Category: Students

What Students Pay For (I)

Anyone who seriously believes in the whole “Great Disruption” meme has to be able to make the case that technologically-driven change of the kinds currently on offer can actually offer an improved value proposition to higher education consumers. No one, to date, has convincingly done so. Let’s think about this for a minute: what is it students are actually buying when they enrol in a higher education institution? Though the specific combinations will differ from one student to another, all

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April 18, 2012 4 Comments

Social Media Strategies in Higher Education

Are you as sick of this meme as I am? Just for once, I wish a new technology could come along without some kind of totalizing discourse suggesting that everyone must participate, or that there are relatively undifferentiated strategies for participating. The fact is, while some institutions can benefit from social media, there are a lot more who would be better off spending their money elsewhere. Time for a quick definition: “social media” is not equivalent to “web-based communication.” Specifically,

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April 4, 2012 No Comments

Disappointments in International Education

If you’ve ever spent long in international education circles, you’ll know that one of the standard mantras around support for internationalization is the importance of study abroad for helping Canadians gain intercultural competencies and projecting Canadian soft power. When abroad, Canadian students spread sunshine and light about their home. Upon their return, their knowledge of foreign cultures should make them better global citizens and help the country both commercially and diplomatically. In 2008-09, UNESCO reported that there were roughly 44,000

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March 27, 2012 2 Comments

The “Standard Model” in Aboriginal Services

One of the things I’ve noticed about services provided to Aboriginal students in Canadian PSE is that somehow, Canadian institutions have all arrived at essentially the same model.  Here it is: The recruitment function: If you’re going to recruit on-reserve, you need someone to visit reserves.  Repeatedly. First Nations students aren’t going to make a multi-year commitment to you unless you visit them, look them in the eye and tell them “you can succeed with us and we’ll do what

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March 13, 2012 No Comments

The Tensions in First Nations PSE

One thing that rarely gets talked about in First Nations’ higher education is the question of who’s driving the agenda – chiefs, elders or students? As with any political agenda, there are a number of legitimate actors with different and valid interests. The first set of actors are the chiefs. They have a big say in Aboriginal PSE, not just in Saskatchewan where they actually own First Nations University of Canada, but anywhere that small Aboriginal institutes have sprung up

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March 12, 2012 1 Comment

One Thought to Start Your Day

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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