So, it’s that time of year again, when we all quit the routine of work, and pretend to be on vacation, but are in fact secretly working our tails off on writing/research projects (I’ve got three this summer), which will make us even more burned-out and miserable come September. Don’t you just love it? But the arrival of something resembling summer (climate change is not doing us any favours in Toronto) does mean putting this blog on hiatus for a few weeks. Normal service to be resumed on August 24th… or maybe the 17th if some really interesting stuff happens. We’ll see.
In previous summers, I’ve kept up a regular blogging schedule, under which y’all get something from me every Monday. I’m not going to do that this summer. Instead, I’ve decided to adopt a policy of publishing “whenever I feel like it”. I’m guessing that’ll be about once a week, but it won’t be on a regular day. This will afford me a slightly saner schedule, while also giving me flexibility to write about the odd crisis that crops up, in a more timely manner.
When the blog returns in the fall, it will be with one slight change. HESA Towers is starting to focus a little more on issues of internationalization. We’ll actually be starting a separate blog just for that (not a royal “we” – I will have co-authors); the title and launch date are TBA, but it will be sometime in the fall. We will be cross-posting that blog here; so expect Friday posts next year to all be on the subject of internationalization.
But with respect to this past year, I’d like to trouble you good folks for some feedback. I’m always interested in your thoughts on the blog, and what (if anything) I should do differently. I’m also curious about your reaction to two specific changes in this past year. The first is the decision to lengthen individual posts. Until this year, I had a pretty rigid 450-word limit, to keep posts to a good, bite-size morning piece. However, I found it slightly easier, and less time-consuming, not to spend so much time editing for length (I do enough of that on twitter). I think they mostly read better now (extra words allow for a little more exposition), but I worry that people are less likely to read as a result. What do you all think – have you noticed a difference? And if so, is it for better or worse?
The second change was to put a little more focus on events and trends outside Canada (Chile and Australia, in particular). I find international comparative stuff endlessly fascinating because it helps me understand the constraints of our own policy set-up, but I don’t know how exciting you guys find it. Should I do more of this stuff? Less? Are there any other countries you’re interested in?
Anyways, have a great summer. Rest Up. There’s lots of work to do next year. I’m looking forward to it.
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I hadn’t noticed the change in length and continue to read each post all the way through.
The intentional focus is interesting.
As in the past, I would ask for more coverage of non-university tertiary education.
Agreed, didn’t even notice the change in length. Great blog, and I also found the international stuff interesting.
Enjoy your summer, and thanks again for the great blog.
I think your freedom to write more than 450 words is a good choice.
If it’s a bit over 450 words I don’t notice, and as you’ve said, you get the bonus room for more explanation and the bonus of using the saved editing time for better things – opportunity costs abound!
If it’s noticeably longer, I simply save the article for later in the day when I can give it proper time. You prove over and over to me that it’s time well spent – opportunity costs abound! Not all bloggers can claim that.
I really enjoy your blend of articles: analysis of policy in the works; contemplation of what policies could be if we tried; crisis analysis; word on what’s really happening compared to the stories we tell ourselves; and word on what’s happening elsewhere in the world. I think your choice to add more on what’s happening in other countries is a good one: we all spend far too much time assuming that what’s happening here is happening everywhere. Sorry, on second thought the word ‘assuming’ is a bad choice: it’s far too active a verb. It’s especially easy to think “woe is us” without some context and perspective as a reminder. It’s also nice to learn about places that are trying things differently, and sometimes making headway in the process.
Thanks for your writing, by the way. As a mid-career faculty member in the midst of reshaping my identity and role in the university, spending more of my time trying to make the university a better and more human place, inside and outside – and by doing it using numbers and convincing others that using numbers is a good idea – your thoughts and your approach are a big influence for me. And on some days, you know, one of THOSE days, you’re on my list of people who I mentally name off and then say to myself, “See? Not everyone is crazy.”
Keep up the good work. It’s appreciated.
Hi Alex. No complaints on format or length here. I also like the occasional piece on other countries. I in particular liked the piece you did on Lusophone universities and the constraints they face. I hope the new format retains that sort of regional analysis as much as it does the country-specific or the Canada-in-a-global-context analysis. And echoing the above, some college issues might be welcome.
Happy Holidays
Also didn’t notice the change in length, and also read all the way through.
Don’t love the international stuff, but will continue to read.
Would love even more on non-TT faculty, and generally more on the 40% of our jobs that doesn’t seem to equal the other 40% in terms of recognition, value, compensation, and attention at big universities.
My morning coffee tastes a little more bland in summer without my OTTSYD; enjoy some downtime, Alex.
Thanks for the great work.
I love the length. I’m not interested in international however. Canada and the US are interesting enough for me.
I did not notice the blog’s length increase and still found the blog posts a great read. I found the sections on the economics of Universities fascinating as well as the critical evaluation of trends in education.
I did notice that you have steered clear of many student centric issues such as the mental health and sexual harrassment issues that many administrations were deeply concerned with this year. This blog would have been a great place fora sane discussion of these issues affecting the student body. In a similar manner, you’ve largely not mentioned gender equity, including historic settlements (like the one at the U of S), and how gendered outcome are going to be influencing University dynamics in the coming decade. These are not criticisms but rather, things I’m interested in but did not see here.
Thanks for this blog, it a great morning read.
No issues with the length, certainly hasn’t deterred me from reading.
International stuff is interesting enough that I’ve read it all. You do enough blogging that I don’t feel it crowds much out and as you say international comparisons give an interesting perspective to what we do.
In terms of changing things up I do feel you focus a bit on central Canada, might be nice to see a bit more of whats different in the other regions.
Alex:
Many thanks for another great year of blogging. I’m always amazed at your ability to come up with a fresh take on important but often conventionally viewed issues and to do it consistently while also having such a major “day job”.
I quite like the extra length and could take even more, but then I’m at least semi-retired.
I do appreciate the international stuff and more will be fine. I would like to see a bit more emphasis on Europe, though. England we can find for ourselves but Germany and, especially the Scandinavian countries are a bit more obscure and yet always interesting.
Happy summering.
This blog is excellent. I have no suggestions, other than keep doing it.
Thanks for the great posts. I am happy with the length — read them all. You make me mad about 10% of the time, laugh out loud about 20% of the time — and I always learn something. Enjoy the summer!
I generally find your blog interesting. Sometimes your posts are annoying. Sometimes your posts are spot-on. Sometimes your posts raise points I’d not considered. In particular, I found your posts pointing out the problems with viewing universities as hubs of entrepreneurship and new-firm incubation very timely. It’s nice to know someone has been reading that body of scholarly literature, even if it isn’t Ontario’s university trustees, upper administration or MTCU.
I would like to see more of the following:
1. more references to support claims;
2. the identification of anecdote as anecdote and not passing it off as a general trend;
3. less shoehorning events into unhelpful “right” vs. “left” positions; by the standards of the late 19th Century, we all benefit from high-levels of state sector spending, and drawing on “right” v. “left” distinctions generally aren’t helpful in actually clarifying things. Maybe pioneer some new terms to help your readers move beyond this unhelpful dichotomy.
4. continue to focus on the political economy of the education sector: who benefits, who loses, and which places as a result win or lose;
5. more reference to evidence-based findings about the utility of pedagogical and administrative interventions elsewhere and in Canada. In particular, this could examine the utility of administrators – does increasing their numbers generate more efficiency? or are they just more rent-seekers in disguise?;
6. discussions as to whether there is or is not a skills-gap (maybe you did this in past years?);
7. nuanced attention paid to sexual harassment and campus climate, especially with regard to effective and ineffective policies;
8. nuanced attention paid to the changing demographics of students over the last 50 years. In particular, how have the characteristics of students changed as the percentage of population receiving higher education has increased, and to what degree might this explain part of increased concerns about mental health, post-graduate employment, and retention?; and
9. more discussion of the importance of remediation in helping students in higher education have a meaningful HE experience (this could include debunking my assumption that it is important);
10. discussion of the problem of some professors seeing teaching as far less important than research, and what this means for student education; and
11. a brief history of the justifications given in Canada for going to university. Is the mantra that university is just about job-training new? And what is the history of business education (i.e., Accounting, Operations Management, etc) in Canada? When did Commerce Programs (or other professional programs more generally) migrate to universities?
As a foreigner residing permanently in Canada, I like the international comparisons.
Regards,
Jeff Boggs
I’d love to see you tackle the issue of how to measure committee work, possibly with a few ideas on how that can be done. As we know, it is generally expected of tenured faculty to participate in x number of committees a year as part of their salary, but there is also the issue that some just put their name on a committee and constantly send their “regrets” or are really just seat-fillers. In such cases, can the case be made that pay should be docked? You did spend a good portion of the last year bringing up the increasing cost of faculty, and perhaps this may be rolled into a discussion on measuring productivity… Although it is a sticky and tangled issue to measure committee work.