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Tag: Federalism

Canadian PSE History Through Election Manifestos: the 2010s and a Historical Perspective

This is part five of a five-part series.  Just showing up now?  See Monday (1949-62), Tuesday (63-74), Wednesday (79-93) and Thursday (1997-2011) to catch up. I dwell much on the 2015 election today.  Most of you probably remember it reasonably well, and if you don’t, then you can click on these links to see details on that year’s Liberal platform, Conservative platform, NDP platform, Green platform, the various science platforms and an overall analysis here.    What was maybe a bit surprising in historical perspective about the 2015

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September 27, 2019 No Comments

Canadian PSE History through Election Manifestos: 1963-1974

If you’re just joining us, we’re exploring the history of post-secondary education in Canada as seen through election manifestos. 1949 to 1962 was yesterday.  The party manifestos for the five federal elections from 1963 to 1974 represent a kind of a highpoint in dealing with post-secondary education, research, and skills. It’s a fascinating period because you can see the pendulum swing from activist federal ambitions in education and skills to total avoidance. The Socreds were the most consistent party through

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September 24, 2019 No Comments

If Canada Were Serious About Higher Education (coda)

Before reality intruded with a bunch of interesting stories from Ontario and New Brunswick, I was talking about the ways Canadian higher education is achieving less than it could: how the practice of our federal system condemns us to incoherence, how provincial governments are insufficiently focussed on results and how institutions don’t take internal quality assurance or improvement seriously. But what to do about it? First, we need to diagnose the problem correctly.  Clearly, this is not a problem with a single source: pretty much

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April 18, 2019 1 Comment

If Canada Were Serious About Higher Education (Part 4)

When it comes to higher education, one of the most salient facts about Canada is that we are a federation in which both levels of governments play important roles.  Yet, to put it mildly, we are not very good at co-ordinating those roles.  Indeed, some might say we are uniquely bad at it.  If we were serious about higher education, we wouldn’t be. The main problem has to do with Science and how it is funded. The bulk of our scientific

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April 11, 2019 No Comments

Canada’s International Education Strategy Mark II

Tucked away almost unnoticed on page 67 of Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s Fiscal Update last week was a fascinating little statement: “To build more skills and provide training that will help support Canada’s international trade and increase global ties, Global Affairs Canada and Employment and Social Development Canada will work together to develop a new international education strategy.” What should we make of this? The initial impression made by this phrasing is not very good.  Sure, it makes sense that within the Government

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November 26, 2018 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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