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Tag: Ontario

The Lawsuit That Could Remake Canadian Student Assistance

This week in Toronto, an Ontario court is hearing the case of Jasmin Simpson, a deaf-blind Ontario woman who is suing the federal and provincial governments on account of the way they provide assistance to students with disabilities.  The Ottawa Citizen ran a very good article on the case yesterday, but I thought I would add my $.02 because the case potentially has some very big ratifications. (Before we start, I need to declare an interest.  For several years, I have worked with

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January 16, 2020 1 Comment

Some Good News on Access

One of my favourite reports released last winter was a little gem, written by a team of Ontario researchers and published by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO), entitled High School Success and Access to Postsecondary Education. It tells the very good news story that access to post-secondary education is rising quite rapidly in the city of Toronto across all income groups.  The study is interesting because it makes use of the Ontario Education Number to link individual record data

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January 15, 2020 2 Comments

Where the Living is Easy

Before Christmas, I made a bit of a fuss about the six Ontario Colleges who had made deals with private career colleges in the GTA to teach international students.  The previous provincial government had decided to shut these agreements down because they seemed to pose systemic reputation risks to Ontario colleges, but the new one decided not only to leave them alone but to allow those colleges to double down on them, ostensibly on the grounds that they all really, really

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January 14, 2020 2 Comments

Beyond the Student Choice Initiative

Last Thursday, the Ontario Superior Court struck down the Ford Government’s “Student Choice Initiative”, a program of voluntary student-unionism (VSU) it imposed last January (see here for a refresher).  The court decision is here.  It’s a full defeat for the provincial government, the policy is declared void, but it’s unclear if and how student organizations will be compensated for lost revenue from the fall term. A lot of people are arguing this is a victory for student unions and for the cause of

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November 27, 2019 No Comments

Ontario Doubles Down on Dodgy Colleges

Remember about a month ago when I noted how several Ontario colleges now had international student numbers above 50% of total enrolment?  And about how in some cases this was being done by small town colleges establishing “partnerships” with private vocational colleges in the Greater Toronto Area?  How they were effectively warehousing international students at these locations, charging them full tuition, and paying the private college to teach some allegedly bespoke curriculum while pocketing the difference? Two pieces of news.

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November 18, 2019 2 Comments

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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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