You all know I complain a lot about data in Canada. So today, I thought I’d assemble a wish list: a set of priorities for developing a better system of higher education data, along with some thoughts about how these measures could be implemented as part of a larger, overall accountability agenda Now, I am going to focus on the need for new data but there is a lot that could be done to make better use of existing data.
Note: this article contains references to sexual violence, harassment, and suicide/self-harm. For a couple of decades now, the American College Health Association (ACHA) has been administering a ridiculously long and detailed survey called the National College Health Assessment, which goes under the unwieldy title of ACHA-NCHA. Since 2013, a number of Canadian institutions have taken part in this as well, which allows for some reasonably interesting comparisons over time. (N.b. since Fall 2019, a new iteration of the survey has
The final objection to the idea I’ve been pushing for the last couple of weeks – namely, that higher education might be getting more affordable (which it is, to some extent, by most tuition-related measures of affordability) – is that tuition-related measures of affordability are in adequate and don’t cover and so do not do justice to the current “the cost of living crisis”. Broadly, this is true. But, I suggest, it’s not actually true for everyone, and even for
The affordability of higher education is vital for the accessibility of higher education. Unfortunately, much of the debate around affordability is conducted in terms simply of prices, and usually inflation-unadjusted ones at that. But while price is an input to affordability, it is not the whole story. In fact, it is exactly half the story: the numerator, if you will. The other half, the denominator, is capacity to pay. And yet for some reason we almost never bring this into
Just a quick one today, because you all know how this story goes. The Atlantic Association of Universities, bless them, produces enrolment data every October. Why it takes every other university in the country over a year to do the same is an utter mystery. But whatever the reason, it gives us the earliest window into what’s going on nationally in enrolments. Here’s the skinny: Total enrolment is up 1%. But, predictably, it’s not evenly spread across student types. International
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