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Tag: Federalism

The Evolution of Micro-credentials and Short Courses

It has been about a year since I last took a look at micro-credentials and I want discuss how I see things evolving in this space. The most important thing to note is that there remains a massive disconnect between those people who think micro-credentials are building blocks towards credentials – that is, that they should be courses or groups of courses which are both independently coherent and can build towards larger “macro-credentials” like a Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree, and

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February 15, 2022 6 Comments

A Long-Term View of Student Financial Aid in Canada

Over Xmas, someone asked me on Twitter whether student loans were replacing direct government support as a main source of public assistance.  I answered, no, direct government support either from the feds (mainly through research and infrastructure) or the provinces (operating grants), are worth about five times more that the annual value of student loans.  To wit, Figure 1. Figure 1: Annual Student Loan Disbursements vs. Total Government Transfers to Post-Secondary Institutions, Canada, 1989-90 to 2019-20, in constant $2019 Millions

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January 26, 2022 1 Comment

That Future Skills Council Paper

Last week, the Future Skills Council released a document called “Canada – A Learning Nation: A Skilled, Agile Workforce Ready to Shape the Future”.  I thought we should delve into it early in the week before we all get too tired.  So here goes: For starters, we should be clear about who is releasing this.  This is the Future Skills Council (a group of worthies from across the country who advise the Minister of Employment and Social Development on…things…) and not the Future Skills Centre (the

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November 30, 2020 1 Comment

The Throne Speech and Why We’re in Deep Trouble

Last week, the Governor-General delivered the Speech From the Throne (SFT). I argue it is a very ominous document for post-secondary education.  Since March, the Government of Canada has spent about $250 billion on various types of direct and indirect support for Canadians.  Very roughly, a third of that went to the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), other third went to the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), and the balance went through three or four dozen targeted programs, among the largest of which

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September 30, 2020 No Comments

Better Together

So far in the pandemic, the fiscal picture in Canada looks like this: The federal government is splashing enormous amounts of cash through EI, CERB, CESB etc. to support individuals, and sustaining businesses through wage subsidies, rent subsidies, and cheap loans. Provincial governments have focussed mostly on meeting the front-line costs of the crises – such as costs in hospitals, long-term care centres – and on some boutique financial measures to help households (some extra money to seniors, breaks on

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May 4, 2020 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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