Adventures in Canadian Post-Secondary Education

Saturday, November 28, 2009

UBC student union president facing censure over complaint to United Nations

The president of a student union at the University of British Columbia is facing calls for his resignation after he filed a complaint to the United Nations on behalf of the organization.

Blake Frederick announced [Thursday] that the Alma Mater Society is asking the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to appoint an independent expert or special rapporteur to investigate human-rights violations in Canada’s postsecondary education system.
. . .

The November 25 complaint . . . argues that Canada is violating the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which it signed in 1976, by not ensuring postsecondary education is accessible to all.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

B.C. Budget committee recommends PSE reforms

From Academica's Top Ten:

In a recent report on budget consultations, BC's Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services recommends the province consider reducing the interest rate charged on student loans, as well as extend the no-payment, interest-free period on the loans. The committee also suggests BC investigate the merits of using the Higher Education Price Index, rather than the Consumer Price Index, in regards to PSE funding allocation adjustments. Other recommendations include assisting schools in their efforts to expand their distance/online curriculum offerings, enhancing apprenticeship opportunities, and working with transit authorities and institutions to develop U-Pass programs where feasible.

The full report can be accessed on-line here in .pdf format.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Post-secondary finances of Canadians aged 18 to 24

Statistics Canada has released a new report which provides results from the first Access and Support to Education and Training Survey. This is a comprehensive survey of Canadians' education and training activities.

In addition to participation in education/training, Lifelong Learning Among Canadians Aged 18 to 64 Years: First Results from the 2008 Access and Support to Education and Training Survey also summarizes data on unmet education needs, education financing, and sources of funding.

Some notable findings among the 18 to 24 year-olds surveyed include the following:

The top three reasons why young Canadians aged 18 to 24 did not pursue further education or training included cost (30%), needing to work (30%), and work schedule (22%);

The proportion of 18 to 24 year-old students using government student loans decreased from 24% in 2002 to 22% in 2008;

The proportion of 18 to 24 year-old students using non-government student loans decreased from 28% in 2002 to 16% in 2008;

The proportion of students aged 18 to 24 who relied on money from parents, spouse or partner, family, or other people decreased from 60% in 2002 to 54% in 2008; and

The proportion using grants, bursaries, scholarships, or other sources increased from 26% in 2002 to 32% in 2008.

The full report may be downloaded here in .pdf format.

News items about this Statistics Canada report:

More adults getting job training (Globe and Mail)
More cash stashed for students: StatsCan (CanWest News)

Report author questions Grenfell autonomy delay

From The Western Star:

A co-author of the report which recommended Sir Wilfred Grenfell College be given university status is frustrated at the lack of progress on the file.

The report written by John Kelly, professor emeritus at University College Dublin and executive director of the Ireland Canada University Foundation, and fellow Irish academic John Davies, was submitted to the provincial government in 2006.

Since then, Kelly has been monitoring the situation, but said it’s been a lot of talk and little action.

“I am very surprised and very disappointed that after three years, nothing seems to be happening,” Kelly told The Western Star via telephone from Ireland. “We keep hearing government is preparing legislation and all that, but there’s been no movement at all. All (Premier) Danny Williams has to do is sign it, call it a university and let’s get on with advertising for a president.”

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

The Price of Knowledge

The Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation released the fourth edition of The Price of Knowledge today. The report includes sections on the employment and earnings of post-secondary graduates as well as trends and research findings related to post-secondary education participation, persistence, costs, student debt, and financial aid.

Drawing on recent research in these areas, the report concludes that, despite increases in public expenditures, a large segment of the Canadian population, particularly Aboriginal peoples, individuals from lower-income backgrounds, and children whose parents who have little or no post-secondary education, continue to be disadvantaged and underrepresented in post-secondary education across the country.

The full Price of Knowledge report can be downloaded here in .pdf format.

Hot off the OECD press: Globalization in Higher Ed, Innovation in VET

The OECD's Centre for Educational Research and Innovation has recently released a couple of publications that report on recent post-secondary/higher education research. These publications are available to read free of charge on-line courtesy of the OECD on-line bookshop's "Browse-it" service (or alternatively via Google Books).

Higher Education to 2030, Volume 2: Globalisation

This is the second volume in the Higher Education to 2030 series, which takes a forward-looking approach to analysing the impact of various contemporary trends on tertiary education systems. Volume 1 examines the effects of demography, while volume 3 explores the effects of technology. This volume examines what challenges and opportunities globalisation is bringing to higher education, and as a consequence, how education might look in the future. The fourth and final volume will present scenarios illustrating the main trends and driving forces for the future of higher education. Read this publication on-line here in .pdf format.

Working Out Change: Systemic Innovation in Vocational Education and Training

What can education systems do to become more innovative? This book analyses systemic innovation in education by looking at the ways in which educational systems encourage innovation, the knowledge base and processes used, and the procedures and criteria used to assess progress and evaluate outcomes. It draws on findings from 14 case studies in Vocational Education and Training in six OECD countries: Australia, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Mexico and Switzerland. The resulting analysis helps us understand how we can support and sustain innovation in educational systems in the VET sector. Read this publication on-line here in .pdf format.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Reviewing art schools

Rankings and reviews of post-secondary institutions and programs have become popular gimmicks for a number of well-known news outlets and magazines. These annual rankings have been variously described in many other ways: useful tool, waste of paper, bane of some college and university leaders' existences, and so on.

If you are considering art school, you may want to peruse Art School Reviews. This website provides an opportunity for current students and alumni to share their perspectives and voice their opinions about arts programs they have first-hand experience with. The website, "created to help aspiring artists and designers find the program which suits them best", is relatively new and already features reviews of dozens of programs across Canada.

The Business of Higher Education

The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) has released a commentary titled The Business of Higher Education .

This commentary discusses various aspects of the increased emphasis we've seen on the economic role of higher education. It explores policies that "encourage an instrumentalist approach to higher education and bolster a market-oriented university research strategy" and reviews their impact on research, curriculum, faculty, administration, and students. In concluding, the paper advocates for greater equilibrium between the traditional values of liberal arts education and emergent market-oriented profit-based objectives.

The full document may be downloaded here in .pdf format.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

German students protest Bologna reforms, fees

From University World News:

Thousands of students took to the streets last Tuesday to voice their anger over the way the Bologna reforms are being implemented in Germany. Opposition to tuition fees was also clearly reflected in the motto "Education is not for sale". The student protest has met with at least a partial response by government officials who are now considering restructuring of new courses and better financial support. All sides involved stress, however, they are not opposed in principle to the Bologna process.

More than 80,000 students took part in the protests, including 6,000 who joined a demonstration in Berlin. Similar demonstrations were held in other large university cities and there have been sit-ins in lecture halls at around 20 universities throughout the country.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Some UK academics calling for tuition fee hike

From Cherwell:

Senior academics have been calling for a rise in tuition fees to counter-act the academic "brain drain" in the wake of the government's announcement of a Higher Education funding review.

The senior academics from a wide range of British universities claim that higher wages in countries such as the USA are causing many top academics to move abroad, leading to a lower standard of education in the UK. A study last year from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found that Britain was suffering the worst "brain drain" of any developed country. The academics believe the only way of stemming the flow of the best and the brightest is to up fees in order to improve standards.

Andrew Oswald, Professor of Economics at Warwick University, argued the tuition fee cap should be removed altogether, allowing universities to charge their own fees. He said ministers would have to be much stronger to stop a "systematic move" of top scholars from the UK.