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Category: Worldwide PSE

What Would a Global Common Data Set Look Like?

The discussion Kris Olds and I started a couple of days ago (see here and here) about a global common data set seems to have generated quite a bit of discussion, so I thought I would flesh out two sets of thoughts regarding what a Global CDS would need to look like – today: content; tomorrow: governance. Start with first principles on content: it needs to be common enough that most institutions around the world are able to produce it. That

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June 7, 2012 1 Comment

New Possibilities in African Higher Education

As I’m working in Ghana this month, I thought I’d share a few stories about higher education here in Africa. What’s occupying my thoughts these days is the educational production function (yes, really). The most amazing thing “western” education systems ever did was to get students to learn on their own, thus reducing both the number of professors required to teach a given number of students and, as a result, the cost of education. Teaching students to “learn how to

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May 14, 2012 1 Comment

Hooked on School

What do Canadian students do when they’ve finished their university studies? And how do they differ from students in other parts of the world? We recently had the opportunity to examine country-level graduate surveys around the world. Now, there are important caveats – no two countries conduct the same survey among the same exact population of graduates at the exact same time (and international data agencies like the OECD restrict most of their graduate analysis to fairly basic indicators, such

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May 11, 2012 No Comments

The Shape of Things to Come

Sit down before you look at this graph, which shows new investment in higher education in 2011. The data comes from our annual survey of 40 countries around the world which make up over 90% of all enrolments and scientific production. Change in Public Expenditures on Higher Education, 2011 The basic story here is this: in the OECD, we’ve finally hit what I call “Peak Higher Education”; the point beyond which we can no longer expect any increase in public

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May 8, 2012 No Comments

A View from Abroad

I’m in Japan this week, and amid all the futuristic buildings, hi-tech, and gloriously efficient public transit, one is continually tempted to ask: how much of this has to do with Japanese higher education? In the Canadian higher education sector we keep telling ourselves how central universities are to economic growth and innovation process, so by that logic, a gleaming technological marvel like Japan must have some kick-ass research universities, mustn’t it? Actually, no. Sure, Japan has a few top

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April 10, 2012 No Comments

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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