Adventures in Canadian Post-Secondary Education

Town Hall Meeting Agenda

2012-01-22T19:42:00.002-03:30

District of St. John's North

Town Hall Meeting Agenda

Sign-in and Refreshments 7:00 pm - 7:20 pm
Welcome and Introductions 7:20 pm – 7:30 pm
MHA Update 7:30 pm – 7:50 pm
Open Question and Dialogue Session 7:50 pm – 8:20 pm
Closing Remarks 8:20 pm - 8:25 pm
Socializing & Informal Discussion 8:25 pm - 8:50 pm

Government must help engineering students

2012-01-17T14:13:00.001-03:30

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

NDP Advanced Education and Skills critic Dale Kirby (MHA, St. John’s North) is calling on government to help engineering students needing work term placements.

“This term more than 100 engineering students are having trouble getting a placement for their scheduled work term,” says Kirby. “With more big industrial projects developing in this province than ever before, I hope government would see both the immediate and the long term benefits of helping these young people get invaluable workplace experience.”

Due to changes in the engineering program, says Kirby, there are currently more than the usual number of students looking for a temporary placement this term. It is this change that has caused the shortfall of placements.

Kirby says government has to help deal with this increase in demand for work term placements.

“The goal of the cooperative education program is to give young engineering students practical experience so they will graduate as the highly qualified and knowledgeable professionals we need in this province,” says Kirby. “We are going to need these young people and their expertise. I hope government will see that investing in these short term placements is money well spent.”

A call to debate Muskrat Falls

2012-01-15T18:34:00.003-03:30

Last week on CBC's On Point program, I challenged representatives from the other political parties on the need to have a proper debate about the Muskrat Falls project. The full program is available online here. The segment I appear in starts about 8 min 10 secs into the program.

As I mentioned in the show, government's decision on the Muskrat Falls Project is probably the most important one to be made by our provincial government in my lifetime. I can't think of an exception. The implications for the cost of power, for provincial spending, and increasing the size of the provincial debt will impact Newfoundlanders and Labradorians for generations.

Instead of fully debating Muskrat Falls with all of the necessary information, our government appears to be intent on barreling ahead and making a decision with piecemeal information in hand. Premier Dunderdale has her foot on the accelerator and she has indicated that there will be no slowing down, no matter how concerned anyone is about how fast she is driving her agenda on Muskrat Falls.

The thing is, Premier Dunderdale and her government know they have a big problem on their hands.

The problem is that the more we learn about the Muskrat Falls project, the more it is studied, the more is scrutinized, the more it appears that the plan for the Muskrat Falls project is fraught with very high risks, that alternatives have not been properly examined, and that more and more citizens are becoming aware of these problems.

Last summer, Muskrat Falls failed a joint federal/provincial environmental review. More recently, government has rejected a request from the Public Utilities Board (PUB) for the additional time needed to conduct a thorough review of the project. Moreover, with each passing week there are more and more individuals raising questions and expressing reservations about Muskrat.

My colleagues and I in the provincial NDP Caucus are calling for a Special Session of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly to ensure a full review and debate of the Muskrat Falls project.

Special Sessions of the Legislature were called to change the Fishery Products International Limited Act and to debate the Voisey's Bay Agreement. We need to have a Special Session of the House of Assembly to ensure that the Muskrat Falls project is economically viable, environmentally sustainable, and to the benefit of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Our democratic deficit - Private member’s bills

2012-01-10T01:55:00.004-03:30

Memorial University of Newfoundland political science professor Alex Marland penned a timely article in the Canadian Parliamentary Review last fall. The piece raises a number of questions about the operations and functions of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly, including its diminishing status under the current government.

The following excerpt on private member’s bills illustrates the need for democratic reform in our province (emphasis added by me):

Members who do not belong to cabinet have a small influence on public policy and have a more limited legislative presence than is the case in other provinces. In other parliamentary systems, members introduce a private member’s bill to propose legislation in an attempt to raise public awareness of issues and to hold the government to account. In Newfoundland, non-cabinet members may speak for 15 minutes on Wednesdays (the designated private members day) when they can introduce motions, which could include urging policy change.

But unlike other legislatures, the rules for a private member’s bill require completion of all three readings in the same day, and the resulting impossibility of meeting such a stringent requirement is symbolic of the strength of the political executive and the lack of effective opposition. Consequently a private member’s bill has never been passed.

The difference a year makes

2012-01-01T11:41:00.009-03:30

Last year was a life-changing year for me, like no other year before it. There were a number of notable developments in my academic work at Memorial University of Newfoundland, my political work with the New Democratic Party, and my personal life, but two events clearly stand atop the others.

On October 11, 2011, voters elected me to represent the district of St. John's North in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly. After the election, I was named the New Democratic Party critic for Education, Advanced Education and Skills, Status of Persons with Disabilities, Youth Engagement, Labour, the Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission, and the Labour Relations Agency. I'm looking forward to working for my constituents over the next four years, and continuing to build our Party across the province.

(Swearing-in ceremony at Government House with Lt.-Gov. John Crosbie on November 9, 2011)

On May 14, 2011, Leigh gave birth to our son Kieran Arthur Kirby. Born a month earlier than he was scheduled to arrive, Kieran was 5 lbs 9 oz. Every day he finds a special way to remind us why we looked forward to his arrival with so much anticipation.

Early learning needs action, not public relations

2011-12-28T17:07:00.004-03:30

Released Earlier Today
December 28, 2011

Early learning needs action, not public relations

NDP Education Critic Dale Kirby (MHA, St. John's North) reacted with disbelief today to a government announcement of a $100,000 public relations campaign to promote the value of play-based learning.

“Does Minister Jackman really think anyone in this province who has anything to do with early childhood education needs to be told about the importance of play-based learning? What our children need is a solid commitment to their early years, not another government-funded public relations campaign,” Kirby said today.

“The families of Newfoundland and Labrador have had enough platitudes and nice talk,” he added. “Parents and early childhood educators alike already know 'that learning begins at birth and continues throughout the pre-school years,' as Minister Jackman says in his release.

“The ministers involved are insulting parents with yet another information campaign, when what the children of this province need – and need now – is a concrete plan for early learning programs and a clear strategy .with timelines for universal publicly-funded and administered child care programs.”

A recent national report, The Early Years Study 3, ranked Newfoundland and Labrador lowest in the country on its early childhood programs.

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For more information, contact Jean Graham, ph. 693-9172.

Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas

2011-12-24T23:49:00.002-03:30

I am fortunate to be spending Christmas with my family in Lord's Cove on the Burin Peninsula. It's nice to be together with my folks and friends to pause and reflect on family traditions of holidays past.

When my brother Sandy and I were little, one of our Christmas holiday highlights was watching "Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas" with our Dad. The story told in the one-hour Christmas television special was adapted by Jim Henson from a children's book of the same name, and it is, I believe, one of the most under-rated pieces of magic created by the puppet-master Henson.

Here, in a clip from the show, the Frogtown Hollow Jubilee Jug Band plays their song "Barbecue".

Best of the Christmas Season to you all!

Holiday Message

2011-12-21T20:25:00.000-03:30

Remembering the École Polytechnique Massacre

2011-12-06T09:38:00.002-03:30

The December 6 Vigil at Memorial University of Newfoundland’s St. John’s campus will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 6 at 6:30 p.m. in Room 2006 of the S.J. Carew (Engineering) Building.

Lest we forget

2011-11-10T22:37:00.000-03:30

This University was raised by the People of Newfoundland as a Memorial to the fallen in the Great Wars 1914-1918 and 1939-1945, that in freedom of learning their cause and sacrifice would not be forgotten.

-- Plaque inscription, Arts and Administration Building, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Education at a Glance 2011

2011-09-14T11:13:00.005-02:30

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has released the 2011 edition of its annual publication Education at a Glance. The full text of the report can be accessed online here. As in previous years, the Canadian Education Statistics Council has also released a companion report, Education Indicators in Canada: An International Perspective 2011.

The educational attainment data in the OECD report are similar to those reported last year. Canada leads the OECD in terms of educational attainment amongst working age adults, with 49% of the Canadian population aged 25-64 having attained a college or university (i.e., tertiary) education. On average across OECD countries, 30% of adults have a tertiary qualification.

Growing administration costs and tuition fees

2011-09-13T08:21:00.002-02:30

From the 2011 College Guide and Rankings edition of the Washington Monthly:

No statistic about higher education commands more attention—and anxiety—among members of the public than the rising price of admission. Since 1980, inflation- adjusted tuition at public universities has tripled; at private universities it has more than doubled. Compared to all other goods and services in the American economy, including medical care, only “cigarettes and other tobacco products” have seen prices rise faster than the cost of going to college. And for all that, parents who sign away ever-larger tuition checks can be forgiven for doubting whether universities are spending those additional funds in ways that make their kids’ educations better—to say nothing of three times better.

Between 1975 and 2005, total spending by American higher educational institutions, stated in constant dollars, tripled, to more than $325 billion per year. Over the same period, the faculty-to-student ratio has remained fairly constant, at approximately fifteen or sixteen students per instructor. One thing that has changed, dramatically, is the administrator-per-student ratio. In 1975, colleges employed one administrator for every eighty-four students and one professional staffer—admissions officers, information technology specialists, and the like—for every fifty students. By 2005, the administrator-to-student ratio had dropped to one administrator for every sixty-eight students while the ratio of professional staffers had dropped to one for every twenty-one students.

Apparently, as colleges and universities have had more money to spend, they have not chosen to spend it on expanding their instructional resources—that is, on paying faculty. They have chosen, instead, to enhance their administrative and staff resources. A comprehensive study published by the Delta Cost Project in 2010 reported that between 1998 and 2008, America’s private colleges increased spending on instruction by 22 percent while increasing spending on administration and staff support by 36 percent. Parents who wonder why college tuition is so high and why it increases so much each year may be less than pleased to learn that their sons and daughters will have an opportunity to interact with more administrators and staffers— but not more professors. Well, you can’t have everything.

Women's status in higher education: Equity matters

2011-09-12T11:19:00.003-02:30

The posting below, which came to me recently via the Tomorrows-Professor mailing list, is the opening of the executive summary of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) report Women's Status in Higher Education: Equity Matters by Elizabeth J. Allan. The report is available from the Wiley Online Library here.

Significant gains have been made in women's access to and representation in higher education. Although they are important, focus on these improvements provides only a partial picture of gender equity and inequity. Taken alone, enrollment data tend to eclipse other factors that shape women's experiences in higher education. For instance, aggregate enrollment data do not portray the persistent lack of gender parity among students studying engineering, computer science, and other science and technology fields, nor do they depict the quality of classroom and campus experiences. Women studying and working in postsecondary institutions continue to bump against glass ceilings and sticky floors, they experience pay disparities and the threat and reality of sexual harassment, and violence continues to interfere with workplace and living environments on campus.

Why Should We Care?

Lack of equity in higher education can have far-reaching and negative consequences for learning environments, quality of life, and career satisfaction of both women and men studying and working in academic institutions. This monograph foregrounds gains made and shared challenges women face while also acknowledging how race, social class, and other aspects of identity intersect with sex and gender and contribute to shaping one's professional status in profound ways. Literature related to women's access and representation in higher education, experiences of campus climate, and predominant strategies employed to enhance gender equity in U.S. higher education are reviewed.

Pathways to completion for low-income students

2011-09-09T10:32:00.001-02:30

New paper from the Community College Research Center:

This paper uses administrative data from Washington State to chart the educational pathways of first-time community college students over seven years, with a focus on young, socioeconomically disadvantaged students. Of particular interest are the rates at which students enter a program of study or concentration (by passing multiple college-level courses within a focused field of study), the amount of remediation taken by students in each concentration, and the rates at which students in different concentrations earn certificates or associate degrees, or transfer to four-year institutions. The paper identifies patterns of progression among students with low socioeconomic status and makes recommendations for practitioners and policymakers.

Full paper is available here in .pdf format.

Canadian Apprenticeship Forum 2012 Conference

2011-09-08T12:33:00.007-02:30

The Canadian Apprenticeship Forum will hold its 2012 biennial conference in Regina, Saskatchewan next June.

The conference theme is Apprenticeship: Strategies for Success - Diversity • Innovation • Engagement. CAF has announced that the deadline for speaker submissions has been extended to September 16, 2011.

DalhousieU dumps anti-plagiarism software

2011-09-07T12:44:00.001-02:30

From The Toronto Star:

A decision by Dalhousie University not to renew its contract for anti-plagiarism software has some professors wondering how they’re going to nab cheaters.

The school has discontinued its relationship with turnitin.com after “we lost trust in the partnership,” said Dwight Fischer, the institution’s chief information officer.

Specifically, the school learned in July that student papers were being stored on U.S. servers instead of Canadian servers as had been contracted.

Hundreds thrown out of N.L. training programs

2011-09-06T09:50:00.003-02:30

From CBC Newfoundland and Labrador:

More than 300 skilled-trade students have been pulled out of classrooms across the province because the government program paying their way has dried up.

Brian Carey is one of them. He was supposed to be in school training for a new career.

Instead, he's at home watching his three boys and pondering his future.

“I was already in class for three days and we went through the course and I was enjoying the course and then got a phone call and I was told there wasn't enough funding, there were too many applicants and I couldn't go back to class,” he said.

Ecuador’s free higher education: Who will benefit?

2011-09-05T12:35:00.002-02:30

Pennsylvania State University professor David Post writes about Ecuador’s policy of free higher education in the Fall 2011 issue of International Higher Education quarterly:

Universities are expensive for families in Latin America and in much of the world, not because of the fees they charge. This was especially not a barrier for public universities in Ecuador prior to 2009, because universities used a sliding scale based on income. Instead of direct fees, the biggest expense comes from the years of sacrifice by families when they encourage their children to study and eventually to pass competitive entrance exams, as opposed to working to support the household economy. In recent years, although about 80 percent of each birth cohort entered secondary schools, there was a large dropout rate among the poor. Only about half of each cohort finishes secondary schooling and is thus eligible for “free” university attendance.

Easing the transfer from college to university

2011-08-31T09:27:00.005-02:30

The current edition of the Canadian Journal of Higher Education includes an article on college-to-university student transitions. Here's the abstract for the article:

Increasingly, students are seeking transfer from college to university educational programs. This challenges universities to assess the effectiveness of transfer policies and also challenges colleges to prepare students for continued education. This paper reviews the various transfer procedures used by Canadian universities, barriers experienced by students seeking transfer, and strategies for improving the transfer process. The authors propose the use of learning outcomes, which identify student knowledge and skills following an educational experience, to develop block transfer strategies that ease student transfer between educational programs.

Reference: Carter, I, Coyle, J. P., & Leslie, D. R. (2011). Easing the transfer of students from college to university programs: How can learning outcomes help? Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 41(2), 10-27.

Saskatchewan considers degree-granting expansion

2011-08-29T10:22:00.007-02:30

The government of Saskatchewan has received a consultant's report on the expansion of degree-granting in the province. The report recommends that "Institutions other than the University of Regina and the University of Saskatchewan should be able to offer degree programs".

If the Saskatchewan government adopts report's recommendations, the province will follow in the footsteps of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and Prince Edward Island -- all of which have permitted degree-granting in the non-university sector.

The consultant's report recommends that non-university degree-granting in Saskatchewan be adjudicated by a "quality assurance board". This would be wise, since the issue of authority to grant degrees is a sensitive one for many faculty and administrators. This is something I have witnessed up close.

Several years ago, when I was a policy adviser in the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities, I worked with a team of civil servants tasked with sorting out the policy and funding issues that arose from a decision to set all Registered Nurse educational preparation at the baccalaureate degree level through adoption of a college-university collaborative program model. Because of the complex and sometimes strained nature of relations between the university and non-university sectors, the counter-idea of a college-granted applied degree in nursing was a periodic topic of discussion with stakeholders. I have since written about these issues in journal articles here and here.

In addition to that experience, in 2008 I was contracted by the Saskatchewan Academic Health Sciences Network to produce a review of baccalaureate nursing education program models. At the time, Saskatchewan was dealing with many of the same nursing education capacity issues that I had worked on in Ontario. My final report is online here. Here is a taste of what I had to say then about the issue of the community college applied degree in nursing:

Critiques of the applied degree in nursing have often focused on perceived deficiencies in the applied focus of community college programs as compared to the academic orientation of university programs. The notion of academic scholarship, individually defined by institutions and linked to institutional norms and values, is central to academic institutional life and the long-standing conception of what constitutes university-level education. The research and scholarly activities that are central to university missions have traditionally not fallen within the purview of institutions in the college sector. The role of college faculty is often more narrowly defined in collective agreements that do not provide significant recognition or remuneration for academic research activities. Moreover, the required teaching workload of college faculty can often make it difficult for them to engage in scholarly work. Considering the differing organizational and institutional priorities of colleges and universities, nursing degrees independently granted by non-university institutions are sometimes regarded as lacking the rigour of university granted academic degrees.

Students asked to pledge degree completion

2011-08-27T18:54:00.000-02:30

An interesting idea:

Illinois Valley Community College students will sign a mass pledge to complete their degrees and certificates from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 31, as part of IVCC's annual Spirit http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifDay celebration and New Student Convocation.

"Statistics show the surest way for anyone to land a job in their chosen field is to finish college and earn a degree or certificate," said IVCC President Jerry Corcoran.

Phi Theta Kappa Rho Omega chapter officers and advisers, faculty, counselors and administrators will ask students to pledge to complete their degrees and certifications before transferring or entering the job market. The mass pledge is part of a national community college movement.

Parental educational attainment and university completion

2011-08-24T10:32:00.005-02:30

In my inbox from Statistics Canada this morning:

People who have parents with a university degree remain more likely to get a university education than children whose parents do not have a degree, although the gap between the two groups has narrowed over time.

In 1986, 12% of Canadian-born people aged 25 to 39 whose parents did not complete university had graduated from university. By 2009, this proportion had almost doubled to 23%.
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In contrast, in 1986, 45% of people who had at least one parent with a university degree had graduated from a university. By 2009, this proportion had also increased, but at a slower pace, to 56%.

Women largely account for the increase in the percentage of university graduates among people whose parents did not have a degree.

The full report, Intergenerational Education Mobility: University Completion in Relation to Parents' Education Level, is available online here.

Internet older than incoming first-year students

2011-08-23T09:45:00.003-02:30

From the Associated Press:

Mention Amazon to the incoming class of college freshmen and they are more likely to think of shopping than the South American river. PC doesn't stand for political correctness and breaking up on Facebook is more common than any more personal encounter.

These are among the 75 references on this year's Beloit College Mindset List, a compilation intended to remind teachers that college freshmen born mostly in 1993 see the world in a much different way: They fancied pogs and Tickle Me Elmo toys as children, watched televisions that never had dials and their lives have always been like a box of chocolates.

Once upon a time, relatives of the current generation swore never to trust anyone over the age of 30. This group could argue: Never trust anyone older than the Net.

The college's compilation, released Tuesday, is assembled each year by two officials at the private school in southeastern Wisconsin. It also has evolved into a national phenomenon, a cultural touchstone that entertains even as it makes people wonder where the years have gone.

McGillU changes controversial MBA program

2011-08-22T07:10:00.001-02:30

From the Montreal Gazette:

McGill University will be allowed by charge almost $35,000 for tuition to its MBA program because the university has created a specialized program that now meets government regulations.

The university has already paid a $2-million fine imposed by the Quebec government for contravening government norms by setting its own tuition. That money came out of its budget, said Dave Leclerc, an aide to Education Minister Line Beauchamp.

However, now that McGill has agreed to focus its MBA program on international business and include mandatory study trips abroad in 2012, the government agrees that specialized programs can set their own fees. A regular MBA program, Leclerc said, costs a maximum of about $3,200 a year.

New Brunswick minister dismisses student loan concerns

2011-08-19T11:43:00.001-02:30

From The Daily Gleaner:

The Minister of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour says she doesn't think many students or families will be affected by the return of the parental contribution to the provincial student loan assessment this year.

"The parental/spousal calculation takes into consideration total family incomes, pension, unemployment insurance contribution, total income tax payable and a moderate standard of living based on family size," Martine Coulombe said in an interview with The Daily Gleaner.

The minister will be meeting with representatives from the New Brunswick Student Alliance on Aug. 25.

"Probably there are not much students who will be affected or family," she said.

Five years after the Liberal government did away with the parental contribution to provincial student loans, the Progressive Conservative government brought it back March 22 as part of its 2010-11 budget, saying it would save the province $1.6 million.

Strategies for widening access in a quasi-market higher education environment

2011-08-17T11:16:00.004-02:30

Almost eight months after it was first made available online, my article titled Strategies for Widening Access in a Quasi-market Higher Education Environment: Recent Developments in Canada has been published in the September 2011 edition of Higher Education. Here's the abstract:

Under the Canadian constitution, authority over all levels of education, including higher education, rests with each of the individual provinces and territories. Although Canada has one of the highest levels of per capita educational attainment in the world, student access continues to be one of the most dominant policy areas in Canadian higher education. In recent years, a number of significant access policy reforms have been put in place by governments at the national and provincial levels. These initiatives are demonstrative of the continued and growing influence of marketization in Canada’s quasi-market system. This analysis provides some insight into these recent reforms and the influence that market principles have come to have in Canadian policies on both the supply-side and the demand-side of the country’s higher education sector.

Quebec Young Liberals back tuition hikes

2011-08-16T08:50:00.000-02:30

From CBC News:

Quebec's young Liberals affirmed their support for tuition hikes, an independent body to investigate police shootings and a ban on young people using tanning salons this weekend.

The Liberal youth wing met in Sherbrooke, Que. where they were addressed by Premier Jean Charest after adopting several motions.

Their members voted in favor of the Charest government's plans to increase tuition rates from the current $2,200 to $3,800 a year.

Average UK student debt could double

2011-08-15T09:28:00.003-02:30

From BBC News:

Average debts may reach £53,000 for UK students starting in 2012 - double the figure for 2011 - an annual
The Push university guide said average annual debts had risen 6.4% in the past year - more than inflation - to £5,680.

Researchers interviewed 2,800 students and based the projection on an average course length of 3.4 years.

Tuition fees in England will rise in 2012, but ministers say students should not be put off for financial reasons.

Hat tip to Academica's Top Ten

Weekend Music Blogging: Stan Rogers - Barrett's Privateers

2011-08-13T00:23:00.006-02:30

I found this gem on YouTube. The whole of Ryan's Fancy (Dermot, Fergus, and Denis) singing it up with Stan Rogers and Garnet Rogers. I remember this being part of a CBC special when I was a child.

Brazil promises 75,000 science and technology scholarships

2011-08-11T09:54:00.007-02:30

A couple of days ago, Canada's Prime Minister visited Brazil, the world's seventh-largest economy, in an effort to strengthen trade ties. While Brazil has posted solid economic growth in recent years, inequality remains firmly entrenched. If the country is to match its economic revolution with a social one, Brazilians would be well served by greater access to quality education. While it has been arguably slow, there has been some movement to that end. Just last week, for example, Brazil announced a plan to significantly boost its numbers of science and engineering graduates:

The Brazilian government has announced a plan to invest 3.16 billion real (R$; US$2.02 billion) in 75,000 science and technology scholarships by the end of 2014. The initiative, which will send students abroad as part of the government's Science Without Borders programme, was announced on 26 July. The government has challenged the private sector to contribute a further 25,000 scholarships.

Brazil boasts one of the world's 10 largest economies, and ranks 13th in scientific production, according to the Institute for Scientific Information in New York. The country's expanding economy has increased opportunities for scientific collaboration with other nations, and the country has need for chemists, physicists, computer scientists and engineers, says Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz, director of FAPESP, the São Paulo state research foundation.

Against the odds: Disadvantaged students who succeed in school

2011-08-10T08:59:00.006-02:30

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a system of international assessments that focus on 15-year-olds' capabilities in reading literacy, mathematics literacy, and science literacy. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has released a new publication which looks at students who are successful in school and excel in PISA assessments despite a disadvantaged background. Here's a summary of the work:

Many socio-economically disadvantaged students excel in PISA. Students who succeed in school despite a disadvantaged background, known as resilient students, are the focus of Against the Odds. The book provides students, parents, policy makers and other stakeholders in education with insights into what enables socioeconomically disadvantaged students to fulfil their potential.

The more hours disadvantaged students spend learning science at school, the better equipped they are to close the performance gap with their more advantaged peers. Resilient students are also found to have positive approaches to learning, including an active interest in science and greater self-confidence. However, the evidence in PISA shows that positive approaches to learning tend to boost the performance of advantaged students more than that of disadvantaged young people. From an equity perspective, the PISA results suggest that policies aimed at fostering positive approaches to learning should target disadvantaged students more than others.

For-profit U.S. college corporation accused of $11 billion fraud

2011-08-09T10:10:00.001-02:30

As reported by CNN:

Education Management Corp. (EDMC), the second-largest U.S. for-profit college chain, used improper recruitment practices to secure more than $11 billion in U.S. student aid, prosecutors said in a civil lawsuit.

Education Management, 41 percent owned by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) funds, illegally paid recruiters based on the number of students signed up, a violation of rules for colleges that get U.S. student grants and loans, the Justice Department said today in a complaint filed in federal court in Pittsburgh.

Prosecutors spelled out their case against the company for the first time since May, when the Justice Department joined an employee whistleblower suit. Colleges that receive federal aid are barred from paying recruiters incentives tied to enrollment because it may encourage companies to register unqualified students. The government claimed Education Management enrolled students who appeared to be under the influence of drugs.

Education Management “fraudulently induced” the Education Department to make the company eligible for more than $11 billion in federal grants and loans since 2003, according to the complaint. “Each and every one of the claims it submitted or caused a student to submit violated” the U.S. False Claims Act, the government said.

Canada's international education marketing plan

2011-08-08T09:24:00.006-02:30

In July, the Canadian premiers endorsed an "international education marketing action plan". The strategy was developed by the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC), in partnership with provincial and territorial ministers of immigration. The expected outcomes of the plan are:

a greater number of international students studying in Canada;
an increased share for Canada of the international student market;
more opportunities for Canadian students to study abroad; and
a greater number of international students choosing to remain in Canada as permanent residents after graduation.

The full document is on-line here in .pdf format.

Student summer jobs still scarce

2011-08-05T15:07:00.003-02:30

From the Canadian Federation of Students:

High unemployment continues to be a major obstacle for students this summer. According to a Statistics Canada report released today, the unemployment rate of 17.4% for students aged 15-24 remained nearly unchanged from July 2010.

"We are reaching the end of the summer and many students have still not found work," said Roxanne Dubois, National Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students. "Students who have been unlucky in their job hunt this summer will face difficult choices this September given record-high tuition fees."

Tuition fees have grown to become the single largest expense for most university and college students with average domestic tuition fees of almost $5,000 per year. Students currently owe near $15 billion to the federal government alone.

The situation is even worse for younger students aged 17 to 19 who are facing an unemployment rate of 17.6%.

Financial aid change hits New Brunswick students

2011-08-05T09:46:00.001-02:30

From CBC New Brunswick:

New Brunswick post-secondary students are preparing to return to school in September and some are finding out they may no longer qualify for financial assistance from the provincial government.

Finance Minister Blaine Higgs announced in his March budget the provincial government would save $1.6 million annually by reinstating the parental contribution policy in student loan assessments.

The move was immediately criticized by student groups, but now individual students are starting to realize the impact of the cost-cutting initiative.

Understanding the gender gap in university participation

2011-08-04T15:18:00.003-02:30

A new study commissioned by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) examines gender differences in university applications and enrollment. The summary of the key findings notes the following:

University application rates of women increased from 41 per cent of the potential applicant pool in 1994 to 52 per cent in 2006, while application rates of men rose from 32 per cent to 39 per cent in the same time period. The study finds a link between university application rates of men and women and the percentage of each who take the academic versus applied EQAO mathematics test in grade 9. Young women are somewhat more likely to take the academic test than young men. According to the authors, this limited evidence suggests that high school course selection as well as student tracking may play an important role in explaining the gender gap in university applications.

In university application rates, there were no significant differences between the four high school types, with a gender gap of close to 10 percentage points across the four boards. The gap was also similar at schools serving high-income and low-income neighbourhoods. While schools in lower income areas, rural schools and schools further from a university campus have lower application rates, separate schools have slightly higher rates than public schools. Overall, say the authors, school and neighbourhood characteristics explain a small proportion of the widening gender gap in applications to university. But they note that tracking and performance in grade 9 are significant factors in application rates and in explaining the PSE gender gap.

The full paper is available here in .pdf format.

Matt Damon's speech at the Save Our Schools March in Washington, D.C.

2011-08-03T12:08:00.000-02:30

HEQCO post-secondary finance conference

2011-08-02T17:43:00.004-02:30

This landed in my email inbox today. Some preliminary details on the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario's Financial Literacy and Planning for Postsecondary Education Conference are here.

What is a MOOC?

2011-07-31T14:04:00.003-02:30

Here's a useful video clip explaining the idea of a Massive Open Online Course or MOOC:

Nova Scotia cans Dalhousie fee hike plan

2011-07-29T14:16:00.005-02:30

From the Halifax Chronicle Herald:

Nova Scotia's advanced education department has rejected Dalhousie University’s proposed 10 per cent hike in fees for international students.

But those students will still pay an extra 6.5 per cent.

Earlier this week, the minister approved a 3.5 per cent increase in differential fees to provide more advisers, workshops and coaches for international students.

In February, the province announced a four per cent cut in funding to universities and a tuition cap of three per cent for undergraduate and graduate students.

German universities set for huge student surge

2011-07-25T10:51:00.000-02:30

From University World News:

Universities in Germany are expecting an enormous increase in first-year students next semester. This is due not only to studying becoming more popular in recent years, but also to double cohorts of higher secondary school-leavers and the country ending conscription.

The German states introduced shorter secondary school education at the gymnasium, roughly the equivalent of a grammar school, last decade. Compulsory military service ended this July.

As a consequence of these two developments the Rectors' Conference (HRK), representing higher education institutions, expects nearly 60,000 more first-year students will enrol than last winter semester, when 440,000 new enrolments resulted in the overall student population peaking at 2.2 million.

Adult learner participation in post-secondary education

2011-07-21T10:50:00.004-02:30

A newly released report from the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario examines the participation of adult learners in post-secondary education. The report notes the following:

Adults with high literacy levels are three times more likely to participate in adult learning in Ontario than those with low literacy levels. As a result, those who would benefit most from further education are missing potential social and economic opportunities, including higher earnings and shorter unemployment periods.

My colleagues and I made a similar point in a 2009 paper in the Canadian Journal of University Continuing Education. Back then, we made the following observation:

The highest participation rates in adult education and training are found among the employed (vs. the unemployed), the highly educated (vs. the less educated), and the highly skilled (vs. the lower skilled) (Rubenson, Desjardins, & Yoon, 2007). Meanwhile, those individuals with lower levels of formal education stand to benefit the most from training opportunities, particularly in the area of basic literacy competencies. Many Aboriginal peoples, low-income learners, people with disabilities, and individuals who leave school early face multiple barriers to participating in education and training as adults. However, certain forms of non-occupational adult education required to meet the needs of these groups, such as basic literacy programs in particular, are not widely accessible or available.

Alberta Tory leadership candidate pledges tuition tax credit

2011-07-19T09:32:00.007-02:30

Academica's Top Ten notes that Alberta Tory leadership candidate Ted Morton has pledged to introduce a tuition tax credit which would refund tuition paid by Alberta students who stay and work in the province for 7 years following graduation. The program would see up to $20,000 in tuition fees paid back to students in the form of a non-refundable tax credit.

Nova Scotia introduced its similar Graduate Retention Rebate a couple of years back. Around that time, the following commentary appeared in the Halifax Chronicle Herald:

Governments in Manitoba and New Brunswick have invested $100 million in such tax credits. Yet, no changes in retention rates have been observed since the credits were implemented. Rather than learning from their mistakes, our government wants to spend $6.5 million on, as Alex Usher says, "providing windfall gains to people doing exactly what they were going to do anyways" while failing to retain graduates and failing to make education any more accessible.

Despite their campaign that promised "change," this type of policy is simply an amplified archetype of the previous government’s own failed tax tactic. Why not invest these millions of dollars into something more useful? Why not improve access by directing this funding towards student grants or tuition reductions that will save students money now?

Students are calling on the government to change its approach, to lower tuition in order to keep youth from fleeing to Newfoundland for a more affordable education. We’re asking government to promise that no student is denied the right to a higher education for financial reasons alone.

4 in 10 English universities to charge maximum fee

2011-07-13T09:03:00.002-02:30

From University World News:

Nearly four in 10 universities in England will charge the maximum £9,000 (US$14,335) tuition fee across all courses, but together they will spend an extra £195 million a year on widening access, the Office for Fair Access has confirmed.

Nearly six in 10 universities will charge £9,000 for some of their courses.

The average fee for higher education institutions in 2012 will be £8,509, dropping to £8,267 after fee waivers, with an estimated average cost per student of £7,881 after allowing for institutional support.

Institutions that plan to charge more than £6,000 must get the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) to approve their agreements for widening access.

As a result, those universities are set to increase their spending on access measures to £602 million a year by 2015-16, up from £407 million in 2011-12.

Access measures cover a broad range of activities including outreach activities to raise aspirations and attainment, financial support such as fee waivers, bursaries and scholarships, and measures to improve retention. Outreach includes activities such as summer schools, mentoring, and advice and guidance for pupils.

Cost and reputation attracting Maritimers to Memorial University

2011-07-06T12:02:00.005-02:30

COST AND REPUTATION ATTRACT MARITIME STUDENTS TO MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY OF NEWFOUNDLAND

(St. John’s, NL) – Affordability, a reputation for quality programs, and the availability of a wide range of program options are key factors in attracting Maritime students to Memorial University according to a report released today by researchers in Memorial’s Faculty of Education.

The study, Matriculating Eastward: Maritime Student Migration to Newfoundland and Labrador, investigated academic, social, and economic influences contributing to the enrollment of students from the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. The research also compared factors influencing migrant students who relocate to Newfoundland and Labrador for full-time study with distance students who maintain their residence in their home province and study at Memorial using distance education means.

“While there are important differences between the decision-making of students who relocate to the province and those who study via distance, our results underscore the importance of cost, and tuition fee levels in particular,” said Dr. Dale Kirby, principal investigator for the study. “Cost is not the only factor, but it is a key factor in students’ enrollment decisions”.

The study underscores Memorial University's opportunity to distinguish itself from competitor institutions in the Atlantic region and to market itself to a broad base of potential applicants based on affordability, solid reputation, and comprehensiveness. These attributes may also comprise a firm basis for attracting students from other Canadian provinces and internationally.

The study was conducted in two phases including a survey of students from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island who were attending Memorial University during the 2010-11 fall semester. The survey was followed-up with a series of one-on-one interviews with students during the 2010-11 winter semester.

The full report is available for download in .pdf format from the following website: http://bit.ly/pP9j5J

- 30 -

For more information, please contact:

Dale Kirby
Faculty of Education
Memorial University of Newfoundland
709-864-7623

Students left scrambling as B.C. college closes

2011-07-05T12:10:00.003-02:30

A story we hear all too often:

Duncan’s Sprott-Shaw Community College campus will board up its doors Sept. 2.

Those enrolled at the Cowichan site received the news Monday their programs are being cancelled after Student Loans Canada axed the Cowichan headquarters from its list of places to issue loans.

“Student Loans has pulled our designation from the Duncan campus,” 17-year Sprott-Shaw employee, Duncan campus Associate Director Jonathan Green confirmed Tuesday.

And about 90 per cent of students studying at the local grounds receive government dough, he explained.

Hat tip to Academica's Top Ten

Financial incentives and student outcomes

2011-07-04T18:48:00.004-02:30

This recent article from the Journal of Human Resources reports that a free tuition program for post-secondary students who maintain a minimum GPA and course load can positively impact academic outcomes:

Programs linking college aid to academic achievement could work either by lowering the cost of college or by inducing additional student effort. I examine the PROMISE program in West Virginia, which offers free tuition to students who maintain a minimum GPA and course load. Using administrative data, I exploit discontinuities in the eligibility formula and the timing of implementation to estimate causal effects. I find robust and significant impacts on key academic outcomes. Impacts are concentrated around the annual requirements for scholarship renewal, suggesting that the program works via incentives for academic achievement, not simply by relaxing financial constraints.

Reference: Scott-Clayton, J. (2011). On money and motivation: A quasi-experimental analysis of financial incentives for college achievement. Journal of Human Resources, 46(3), 614-646.

International students shun Sweden's tuition fees

2011-07-03T12:37:00.001-02:30

From University World News:

The number of international students studying in Sweden will fall more than 75% next academic year, following the introduction of tuition fees, according to new figures on the number of advance payments made.

Foreign student numbers will drop by 26,900 this year to 6,300 in 2011-12. Among non-European Economic Area (EAA) students the fall is even more dramatic, with only 1,280 international students compared with 16,600 in 2009-10, the last year of comparable figures.

This is despite the fact that 5,000 non-EEA students were offered a study place at a Swedish university.

Peter Honeth, the Education Secretary, told University World News: "The number of international students in Sweden has increased rapidly over the last few years...not just by being free of charge."

But Daniel Guhr of Illuminating Consulting Group said that while a drop in fee-paying non-EEA students in Sweden was to be expected, the order of magnitude of the decline was troubling.

Weekend music blogging: Sherman Downey and The Ambiguous Case

2011-07-02T19:40:00.004-02:30

Please share the video below from by my friends Sherman Downey and The Ambiguous Case. Sherman Downey is a gifted songwriter and the band has garnered much acclaim in musical circles since the release of their 2009 album Honey for Bees. Ever the troopers, the band is continuing to tour and perform in spite of Downey's recent injuries in a motorcycle accident.

Paying for university in England: Tinkering with the ivories

2011-07-01T12:25:00.000-02:30

From The Economist:

IN A crowded field of U-turns and climb-downs, the government’s bid to reform university finance has earned special distinction for its mix of unpopularity and unintended consequences. Last year, in a bid to transfer most of the spiralling costs of tuition from the state to students, the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition raised the maximum fees English universities can charge, while slashing the exchequer’s contribution to teaching. The aim was both to ease the pressure on the public purse from rising student numbers, and to create a market in which universities compete for students on cost and quality.

The plan failed on both counts—but ignited riots among students and ire among parents and lecturers. On June 28th the coalition unveiled new proposals to contain costs and facilitate choice, by letting both good and cheap universities expand.

At the root of the government’s trouble has been a simple miscalculation. When, last year, Parliament voted to increase the maximum annual tuition fee from £3,375 ($5,400) to £9,000 from September 2012, David Willetts, the higher education minister, said the full whack would be charged only in “exceptional circumstances”. He was wrong. Most universities have chosen to ask £9,000; middling institutions have raised their fees in line with the elite, safe in the knowledge that demand for places is so strong that theirs will still be filled. The result is that, on average, university education in England will soon be as expensive as in America (Scotland and Wales have their own regimes).

Memorial Day in Newfoundland and Labrador

2011-07-01T09:48:00.002-02:30

This University was raised by the People of Newfoundland as a Memorial to the fallen in the Great Wars 1914-1918 and 1939-1945, that in freedom of learning their cause and sacrifice would not be forgotten.

-- Plaque inscription, Arts and Administration Building, Memorial University of Newfoundland

70% of students have summer jobs: BMO survey

2011-06-29T10:33:00.001-02:30

BMO news release:

Despite an improving yet still soft job market for students, 70 per cent of Canadian post-secondary students say they have found summer jobs, according to the new BMO Student Summer Survey results released this week. That’s good news considering almost half of them will rely on summer earnings to pay for post-secondary education (48 per cent) or cover day-to-day school-year expenses (61 per cent).

Post-secondary students across Canada say government loans and grants (66 per cent), parental support (56 per cent) and summer job income (47 per cent) are the three top sources of funding for their post-secondary education. Despite drawing on multiple sources to fund these costs, 66 per cent expect to have some debt when they graduate.

However, according to the study, conducted by Leger Marketing, students are most likely to think they will have under $10,000 (32 per cent) in school debt or no debt at all (27 per cent), and 63 per cent think they'll be able to pay off their debt within five years.

Hat tip to Academica's Top Ten

Reading ability and post-secondary participation

2011-06-27T10:54:00.008-02:30

An article in the June edition of Statistics Canada's Education Matters uses Youth in Transition Survey (YITS) data to examine education, income, and labour market outcomes associated with proficiency levels in reading from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) at age 15.

The authors note that further study and analysis of the connection between age 15 reading proficiency and outcomes is needed, and their findings include the following:

The findings reported here indicate that many individuals at lower reading proficiency levels at age 15 make life-path choices that are substantively different from those at higher levels of reading proficiency. Youth with lower levels of proficiency were more likely to have ended their education with high school completion or less, while those who scored at or above Level 3 were more likely to have completed some form of postsecondary education. The decision to pursue a postsecondary education necessarily leads to a longer stay in the education system and at age 25, twice as many Level 4/5 youth were still in school relative to those below Level 3.

The association between higher reading proficiency at age 15 and higher levels of educational attainment at age 25 is illustrated in the figure below:

Weekend Music Blogging: Handsome Furs - Repatriated

2011-06-24T22:52:00.003-02:30

This song, Repatriated, is the latest from Montreal-based outfit Handsome Furs’ third album Sound Kapital, the first HF album written entirely on keyboards. Serious post-punk sounds in this one.

The Future of Publishing

2011-06-23T02:08:00.000-02:30

Sources of Canadian university revenue: Provincial comparisons

2011-06-22T10:18:00.006-02:30

Statistics Canada and the Council of Ministers of Education Canada have published a new fact sheet which outlines spending on post-secondary education in Canada based on data from three different Statistics Canada surveys. Both national-level and provincial-level data are included.

The fact sheet includes summaries of household spending on tuition fees, average university tuition fees for undergraduate and graduate students, and a breakdown of university revenue sources. It notes that the provinces of Nova Scotia, Ontario, and New Brunswick receive the highest proportions of university funding from student fees -- about 30% for each province (see Figure below).

Download the full document here in .pdf format.

Call for introduction of tuition fees in Finland

2011-06-21T12:20:00.001-02:30

From University World News:

An economist has reopened the debate on whether to introduce tuition fees in Finland's universities by calling for a system similar to that in England.

In a report in Helsingin Sanomat, Finland's Finnish language daily, Matti Virén, professor of economics at Turku University, said university graduates should contribute to their own education rather than being subsidised from the taxes paid by those that did not go to university.

As with the British tuition fee system, itself is based on Australia's Higher Education Contribution Scheme introduced in 1989, student fees would initially be paid by the government. This 'loan' would then be repaid after graduation, once the ex-student's income had reached a certain threshold. The proposed Finnish scheme would see students pay up to an extra 6% in tax, depending on their income, until their study debt was paid off.

Financial aid and student persistence in Columbia

2011-06-20T09:05:00.004-02:30

An article in the current edition of the journal Higher Education examines the association between student financial aid and attrition of post-secondary students in Colombia. The abstract:

The main objective of this study is to estimate the association between financial aid and college dropout rates of postsecondary students in Colombia. We use a unique dataset from the Colombian Ministry of Education that includes all enrolled college students in the country between 1998 and 2008. Logistic regression is used to identify the correlation between receiving different forms of financial aid on the dropout rates of the students. The main results of the study suggest that the probability of dropping out decrease between 25 and 29% according to the type of financial aid received. There is also evidence that the financial aid is more effective in reducing dropout rates at the beginning of the student’s college careers. This result holds after controlling by type of postsecondary institution attended. These findings suggest that financial aid is an effective tool to reduce dropout rates, and therefore increase persistence and expand access in Colombia.

Reference: Melguizo, T., Sanchez Torres, F., & Jaime, H. (2011). The association between financial aid availability and the college dropout rates in Colombia. Higher Education: The International Journal of Higher Education Research, 32(2), 231–247.

Weekend Music Blogging: Old Man Luedecke - At The Airport (Live)

2011-06-18T21:07:00.004-02:30

If you enjoy this performance by Old Man Luedecke, come enjoy his music in person at the 34th Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival in St. John's this August!

Found while searching my name on the web

2011-06-17T12:08:00.002-02:30

Social & cultural impact of universities in Atlantic Canada

2011-06-17T11:22:00.003-02:30

New report from the Association of Atlantic Universities:

The Association of Atlantic Universities (AAU) has published a comprehensive research study which measures the extensive social and cultural contribution of universities in Atlantic Canada. Thriving Together: Universities and Community in Atlantic Canada - shows that hundreds of thousands of Atlantic Canadians take advantage of the rich range of programs and events offered by universities, not only on campuses, but in communities at home and abroad. The report concludes that:

More than 500,000 people attended cultural events, such as live theatrical and musical performances, staged at Atlantic universities;

About 17,000 members of the region’s university community were involved in charitable undertakings;

Universities were involved in more than 800 charitable community service initiatives during the year;

The region’s three largest universities (Memorial, Dalhousie and the University of New Brunswick) each offered more than 500 programs across a wide variety of areas;

Canada’s East Coast universities delivered more than 800 recreational programs to people in the region;

More than 300 community services programs provided a range of benefits to people in the region, including legal and medical services.

Download the full report here in .pdf format.

The Port Huron Statement at 49

2011-06-16T09:46:00.005-02:30

I was, uh, one of the authors of the Port Huron Statement. The original Port Huron Statement. Not the compromised second draft. And then I, uh… Ever hear of the Seattle Seven? - The Dude, The Big Lebowski

Forty-nine years ago this week, the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) released the Port Huron Statement. The statement was written at a SDS meeting in Port Huron, Michigan, and led by working-class student activist, and later Congressman, Tom Hayden. The Port Huron Statement became the manifesto of disaffected and disillusioned 1960s youth. It was a key source of inspiration for the civil rights and anti-war organizing that was to come.

Almost a half-century after it was written, the Port Huron Statement is as relevant today as it was then. Here's why:

The reason The Port Huron Statement remains an important document is that it is a model political manifesto of the American left. It puts forth a simple but very powerful idea, democracy that enlists the active participation of its citizens in its institutions, and it uses this idea to analyze the social conditions of its time, to criticize, in view of those conditions, the political and economic institutions that produced them, and to propose remedies that would move the country toward being a more truly democratic republic. The American left, as far as I'm aware, has produced nothing like it since.

For more on the Port Huron Statement, check out this Nation article by Tom Hayden and Dick Flacks.

Lagging PhD output stymies Canadian innovation

2011-06-15T09:19:00.004-02:30

According to the Conference Board of Canada’s latest How Canada Performs analysis, Canada's relatively low number of people with advanced qualifications — such as PhDs — may be contributing to our failing grade on innovation.

The Conference Board found a positive relationship between higher PhD graduation rates and a country’s patenting activity. Patents are a commonly used measure of innovation activity, tracking how knowledge is being transformed into invention. Countries that rank high on patents – such as Switzerland, Sweden and Germany – also have high PhD graduation rates. Canada ranked 14th out of 17 countries on patents by population and last on PhD graduates.

There is also a link between PhD graduates and business expenditures on research and development (BERD). Countries with high BERD — such as Finland, Switzerland and Sweden — also rank high on PhD graduates. In addition to having relatively few PhD graduates per year, Canada continues to be a laggard when it comes to BERD, ranking second to last.

In the video below, Michael Bloom, Vice-President of Organizational Effectiveness and Learning at the Conference Board, discusses Canada's record on advanced skills as compared to competitor nations. He notes that Canada is 6th in university graduates but second last in output of PhD graduates.

Twitter in the classroom

2011-06-09T10:36:00.000-02:30

Population trends and post-secondary enrollment

2011-06-06T08:54:00.006-02:30

Late last month, the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) released a report on university enrollment trends in Canada.

The report points out that the number of Canadians aged 18-to-21 -- the population from which universities have traditionally drawn a large segment the undergraduate population -- will reach a peak this year and drop by about 10% before rebounding.

While cohorts of 18-to-21 year-olds are projected to rebound substantially in most provinces, Statistics Canada’s medium growth scenario does not project the same for Newfoundland and Labrador (see the blue line in the Figure below).

In the absence of a successful campaign to recruit students from outside of the province, Memorial University and College of the North Atlantic will evidently be challenged to maintain current enrollment levels in the years to come.

Course Note: Students in Education 6807, Economics and Finance of Post-Secondary Education, should review the section on The value of a university degree on pages 39-51.

The full report, Trends in Higher Education – Enrolment, may be downloaded here in .pdf format.

Student debt bankrupting a generation

2011-06-04T15:44:00.000-02:30

From The National Post:

In 2006, Nereid Lake was a single mom with an undergraduate degree in French linguistics from Simon Fraser University and well on her way to a master’s degree in linguistics when Canada Student Loans informed her she had exceeded the lifetime lending limit of the federal program and would have to leave university — without her degree.

At the time, she had accumulated about $60,000 in student loans.

“Even though I had an armload of academic awards, I was forced to leave,” she says. “My aspiration was to work in the field of voice recognition cognitive science, getting computers to understand human language. Instead I had to take the first job I could, as a low-earning court clerk. Now I’m nearly 40 just barely making ends meet and still owe more than $50,000 in student debt. I naively thought student loans would be the great equalizer. Instead I’ve plunged into a student debt nightmare.”

Ms. Lake is not alone. Nearly two million Canadians have student loans. That debt is worth about $20-billion and includes federal and provincial government loans and personal debt in the form of credit cards, family loans and lines of credit all used to finance post-secondary education. And that number is only set to grow as student loans owed to the government of Canada alone increase by $1.2-million a day. At the same time, the amount of unrecoverable student loan debt now sits at $149.5-million.

Tuition not high enough: MemorialU business dean

2011-05-31T16:38:00.011-02:30

Dr. Wilfred Zerbe, who came to Memorial University as Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration just last year, has recently been telling anyone who will listen that tuition fees at Memorial are just too low.

Zerbe's interest, at the moment, is increasing Memorial's MBA tuition fees, from about $4400 for a two-year program to around $10,000 a year.

Why would we do that?

Contrary to any published research I have seen, Zerbe believes that higher fees, for everyone including local students, will attract more international students. Here's how he put it today when speaking on Radio Noon, a CBC Radio show here in St. John’s:

The international students are very sensitive to the quality of the programs and services that they receive and so they are looking first of all at the academic quality which we provide very high levels of; at the same time they are looking for other programs and services and the kind of support they are going to get in order for them to reap the investment that they are making in terms of their time and their living expenses while they are doing an MBA and tuition is overall a very small proportion of the overall cost of the MBA degree. So they're looking to get...get return on their investment and they look at our MBA tuition and they miss perceive the low tuition as an indicator of low quality.

What about Memorial's reputation for lower tuition? And, the fact that lower fees have been a key part of the university's marketing strategy for graduate programs since before Zerbe made the long trek to Memorial from the University of Calgary last year? Here's how he, sort of, responded to that question on the radio today:

I think it is very different to talk about access to education for undergraduate students who are...and I think that's a very strong value of Memorial University, it is certainly one I would support that in getting that first degree. But our students have their...average is 29-years of age, they have six years of experience, most of them, 75% are already working, 24% have their tuition paid for by their employer, so this is not a case of providing access to getting a degree; this is about students who have a degree who are professionals and who want to advance in careers.

If you are interested in hearing more about Dr. Zerbe's theories on tuition fees, you can listen to the archived Radio Noon interview on-line here.

Ontario gov't to decide on satellite campuses

2011-05-31T10:16:00.002-02:30

From The Toronto Star:

The Ontario government no longer will let colleges and universities decide where to set up satellite campuses — as many small and remote schools have done to gain a foothold in the populous GTA. From now on, Queen’s Park alone will determine if, and where, there will be new spinoff sites.

The change is a bid to avoid uneven clusters of higher learning in parts of Ontario that leave other corners starved for post-secondary programs, MPP John Milloy, Ontario’s minister of training, colleges and universities, said in a speech Monday to the Canadian Club.

PayPal co-founder gives $100K fellowships for not going to PSE

2011-05-26T13:10:00.004-02:30

From NPR:

Peter Thiel, the PayPal co-founder and one of the first investors in Facebook, is proposing a controversial path toward more rapid innovation. Today his Thiel Foundation announced that it was giving 24 people under 20 $100,000 fellowships to drop out of school for two years to start a their own companies.

Some of the recipients are leaving first-rate institutions like Harvard and Stanford to take the fellowship. In a press release, the foundation's head, James O'Neill, said that in taking the fellowship they were "challenging the authority of the present and the familiar."

Delaying post-secondary education: Who delays, how long?

2011-05-25T12:33:00.001-02:30

New from Statistics Canada:

Not all high school graduates who attend a post-secondary institution go immediately after completing their diploma. An ever-increasing number of Canadian youth choose to remain out of the education system for a period of time prior to re-entering. A great deal of what we know about a gap year comes from other countries, particularly the United Kingdom. Who delays and for long are, however, two questions that remain to be answered in the Canadian context. The current paper uses all 5 cycles of the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS) to address the scant attention paid in the Canadian literature to the delay of the start of a post-secondary degree or diploma. Kaplan Meier results show that the median length of time between high school graduation and start of the first post-secondary education (PSE) program is 4 months; however, this appears to be substantially longer for males, First Nations youth, Anglophones, youth from Ontario, and youth whose parents have low levels of educational attainment. Equally influential were characteristics during the high school years. For example, youth with low marks, who worked many hours in paid employment while in high school, who skipped classes regularly, who took part in a lot of extracurricular activities not organized by the school, and whose close friends said they were not planning on going to PSE had median gap times between high school graduation and the start of post-secondary studies that were much longer than the average. Cox Proportional Hazard models confirm the robustness of several of the descriptive findings, including the effects of gender, province of high school, parental education, working during high school, marks, extracurricular activities, and the education plans of close friends.

Download the full report, Delaying Post-secondary Education: Who Delays and for How Long?, here in .pdf format.

Fees 'barrier' to part-time studies in Scotland

2011-05-22T15:22:00.001-02:30

From the Donside Piper and Herald:

A quarter of Scots are put off studying part-time because of tuition fees, a survey has indicated.

One in four of more than 1,000 people polled said the costs associated with part-time studies would be a barrier to higher education.

Of those who were unemployed, around half said they would like to return to university, but 73% said fees prevented them from doing so.

The poll, commissioned by the Open University in Scotland and carried out by market research company Ipsos MORI, found that two thirds of people said the greatest benefit of returning to part-time higher education would be to boost their career prospects.

Hat tip to University World News

Women university students expect to earn less than men

2011-05-19T23:20:00.001-02:30

From the Canadian Press:

Female university graduates looking for their first jobs expect to earn less than men, and those lower expectations may be the very reason the very real wage gap persists, a new study suggests.

"Women know they currently aren't earning as much as men so they enter the workforce with that expectation," said Sean Lyons, a University of Guelph researcher who helped conduct the study.

"Because they don't expect to earn as much, they likely aren't as aggressive when it comes to negotiating salaries or pay raises and will accept lower-paying jobs than men, which perpetuates the existing inequalities."

When asked to estimate their starting salaries, female students entering the work world predicted their pay cheques would be 14 per cent lower than the wages men said they expected to pull.

The gap widened over the course of their anticipated careers, with women expecting to make 18 per cent less than men after five years. And it was most pronounced in male-dominated fields such as science and engineering.

Education and retirement saving behaviours of Canadians

2011-05-19T14:03:00.007-02:30

New from Statistics Canada:

The value of education and the benefits that flow from it are substantial for many Canadian families. Previous research has found that Canadian parents are strongly committed to their children’s postsecondary education. However, many parents of children under the age of 18 are confronted with a number of competing priorities. Based on data from the 2009 Canadian Financial Capability Survey (CFCS), this article examines who saves for postsecondary education and how they do so. To view this article click here.

Response to the report from the Canadian Federation of Students:

The rapidly rising cost of post-secondary is preventing many low-income families from saving for retirement, according to a study released today by Statistics Canada.

"Record high tuition fees are forcing families to choose between the educational aspirations of their children and saving for retirement," said David Molenhuis, National Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students. "Forcing families to choose between education for their children and retirement security is unfair and threatens Canada's future economic prosperity."

Nearly 80 percent of families from the highest income quintile report saving for both retirement and their children's post-secondary education. This number plummets to just 20 percent for the lowest quintile, according to the report. Conversely, while only five percent of the highest income families saved for post-secondary education and not retirement, this number grew to 26 percent for the lowest earners - more than the number that saves for retirement only (21 percent) or both (14 percent).

The study also found that the higher the level of tuition fees, the more families saved, demonstrating that Canadians are highly aware of the costs of higher education. Across the country, Canadians believe that an education after high school was important or very important, but savings were correlated directly with the cost of tuition fees and family resources.

"Canadians know the costs of post-secondary education and save what they can," added Molenhuis. "The problem for low-income families is not a lack of financial knowledge, but rather insufficient resources to save."

Report on post-secondary policy in Nova Scotia

2011-05-13T14:39:00.002-02:30

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has released a new report on post-secondary education in Nova Scotia. The report suggests that Nova Scotia students and their families are currently contributing almost three quarters of the funding for post-secondary education in the province:

The total cost to students of obtaining a university education is roughly $26,000 per year. This is almost three times as great as the government contribution of $9,509 per student per year. (p. 6)

The report covers a range of important areas including public investment, accessibility, equity, quality, accountability, and transparency. The authors take particular issue with "market-oriented, utilitarian" recommendations included in a recent government-commissioned report on future directions for universities in Nova Scotia.

Download the full report, Fairness, funding and our collective future: A way forward for post-secondary education in Nova Scotia, here in .pdf format.

New College of the North Atlantic president named

2011-05-12T15:53:00.000-02:30

Excellent decision IMHO!:

The Honourable Kathy Dunderdale, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, today announced the appointment of Ann Marie Vaughan as President and CEO of College of the North Atlantic.

“Ms. Vaughan has worked in the post-secondary education field for more than two decades, most recently as Director of Distance Education, Learning and Teaching Support at Memorial University,” said Premier Dunderdale. “Her demonstrated leadership skills, combined with her extensive knowledge of our post-secondary education system, will ensure the college continues to grow, and to offer our students quality programs which are fully responsive to industry and provincial needs.”

Maximizing post-secondary student persistence

2011-05-09T08:26:00.007-02:30

My colleagues and I are presenting some of our research findings today at the First Year in Focus conference which is co-sponsored by McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Memorial University of Newfoundland, and College of the North Atlantic. Our presentation builds on a paper which was published in the Winter 2011 issue of the International Journal of Information and Communication Technology Education.

The theme of the First Year in Focus conference is Maximizing Student Retention - Everyone's Responsibility, so it is fitting that one of the keynote speakers is Dr. Vincent Tinto. Vincent is a Distinguished University Professor at Syracuse University and the well-known author of Leaving College: Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Leaving. His "model of student integration" is perhaps the most commonly cited model in student retention research, and has had great influence on our understandings of student persistence in post-secondary education programs. Yesterday, I had an opportunity to interview Dr. Tinto for a learning objects repository project. My script for the interview is here.

Tough job market for young Canadians

2011-05-06T08:47:00.003-02:30

From the Financial Post:

At a time when the job market is picking up, many young Canadians between the ages of 15 and 24 are finding the recovery has moved on without them.

In 2010, only three provinces (Newfoundland, PEI and Quebec) had increases in youth employment, said Roger Sauvé, author of the Vanier Institute for the Family’s The Current State of Canadian Family Finances 2010.

In the month of March alone, Statistics Canada said full-time employment rose by 91,000. At the same time, however, the number of employed 15 -to 24-year-olds fell by 17,000.

“Youth have been the biggest losers in the recession and through the recovery for a few reasons,” says Mr. Sauvé. “Typically, the last hired are often the first fired. Secondly, many people 55 and up, who continue to worry about their own financial situation, decided to hang on tight to the jobs they had.”

Election over, back to blogging (sporadically?)

2011-05-04T08:53:00.005-02:30

I know, I know. I've seriously fallen down on my blogging efforts these past few weeks.

Since late March, I have been focusing the little "free time" I have on helping to elect my friend Ryan Cleary in the federal riding of St. John's South - Mount Pearl. In the end, Ryan won by a large margin and, with Jack Harris' second consecutive landslide win, we are making history by sending two New Democrats to Ottawa to represent Newfoundland and Labrador.

Between my impending fatherly duties, my ever-gratifying work at Memorial University, and the upcoming October provincial general election, I won't be sitting back on my haunches anytime in the foreseeable future. So, if this turns into a year of blogging sporadically for me, my readers will understand why.

On the post-secondary education front (isn't that why you're here?), the Canadian Journal of Higher Education has released a new issue. Fresh from volunteering for the federal election campaign, I was particularly interested in the article titled "The Ideological Orientations of Canadian University Professors". Here's the article abstract:

This paper analyzes the ideological orientations of Canadian university professors based on a unique 2000 study of a representative sample of Canadian academics (n=3,318). After summarizing methodological problems with extant research on this subject, and tentatively comparing the political views of Canadian and American academics, the paper demonstrates that Canadian academics fall to the left of the political spectrum but are not hugely different in this respect from the Canadian university-educated population. Multivariate analyses reveal considerable heterogeneity in the ideological views of Canadian professors, suggesting that contemporary characterizations of the North American professoriate as left- or right-leaning tend to be overdrawn. Multivariate analyses demonstrate the importance of disadvantaged status and disciplinary socialization in shaping professors’ ideological views, although self-selection processes are not discounted.

Weekend Music Blogging: R.E.M.- Orange Crush

2011-05-01T21:02:00.003-02:30

Memorial University Students' Union Vote Mob!

2011-04-20T21:47:00.002-02:30

This is VERY neat . . .

PSE spending in Newfoundland & Labrador budget

2011-04-19T21:59:00.002-02:30

The Conservative government in Newfoundland and Labrador released its eight consecutive provincial budget today. Proposed spending on post-secondary education and training initiatives in the election year budget includes the following:

$6.4 million to keep tuition frozen at post-secondary institutions in the coming academic year;
$15.4 million (over 3 years) to provide incentives for employers to hire apprentices, particularly those from under-represented groups. Details of the Apprenticeship Employment Rebate to be announced later;
$19.8 million (over 3 years) in infrastructure funding for Memorial University of Newfoundland, as well as $7.7 million (over 2 years) for laboratory upgrades;
$3.2 million (over 3 years) in infrastructure funding for College of the North Atlantic, as well as close to $7 million (over 3 years) for laboratory and shop upgrades; and
$656,000 (over 3 years) for Memorial University’s Native Liaison Office.

Benefits of attending U.S. community colleges

2011-04-19T10:22:00.003-02:30

A recent article in the Community College Review details labor market, economic, and other advantages of community college attendance. Here is the abstract of the article, titled The Benefits of Attending Community College: A Review of the Evidence:

This article reviews the existing literature on the economic and other benefits of attending community college. First, the article reports on the earnings gains across all students and reviews the evidence for subgroups by gender, minority status, and credits accumulated. The article then reviews the methodological challenges associated with calculating earnings gains from attending a community college. Despite these challenges, the evidence for the significant earnings gains from community college attendance appears to be compelling. The second part of the article reviews the literature on a broader spectrum of gains, such as health, crime, and welfare reliance. This literature is very limited and potentially offers an important area for further research to establish the full returns from community college attendance.

Reference: Belfield, C. R., & Bailey, T. (2011). The benefits of attending community college: A Review of the Evidence. Community College Review, 39(1), 46–68.

Weekend music blogging: Rock Nacional

2011-04-16T22:17:00.009-02:30

One advantage of traveling the world with my work is that I get a chance to take in the local rock and punk music scenes in the places I have an opportunity to visit. Here in Argentina Rock Nacional is king. In Buenous Aires, it seems that the band Sumo is nothing short of legendary. If you enjoy Joy Division or The Clash the way I do, you will like Sumo.

After Sumo's frontman, Luca Prodan, died an early death in 1987, members of Sumo went on to other projects. Divididos, formed after the dissolution of Sumo by some of the band's members, is one of the more popular Rock Nacional acts in Argentina today. Their friendly rivals are Las Pelotas, which is also has former Sumo band members. For your listening pleasure, see below.

Sumo: White Trash

Divididos: 38

Las Pelotas: Que podes dar

Canadian universities must increase enrollment: AUCC report

2011-04-14T10:21:00.002-02:30

From The Vancouver Sun:

Canadian university enrolment must increase by 1.3 per cent a year to produce enough skilled workers to meet demand and fill hundreds of thousands of jobs that will be left vacant this decade by retiring baby boomers, says a report released today.

"If this growth in new graduates is not reached, there will likely be labour shortages in knowledge-intensive occupations," the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada said in a statement while releasing its Enrolment Trends 2011. "In other words, there could be jobs available without qualified workers to fill them."

Traveling from St. John's to Buenos Aires for ICDE International Conference

2011-04-10T10:57:00.004-02:30

Today (and well into tomorrow), I am traveling to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where I am taking in the International Conference of the International Council for Open and Distance Education.

Prior to the conference, I'm attending the third International Forum on Higher Education in Virtual Environments organized by Universidad Virtual de Quilmes. The theme is "University and Digital Technologies: Pedagogical and Social Transformations". On Friday, I'll be presenting on some of the research we have carried out in recent years through the Killick Centre for E-Learning Research at Memorial University.

If anyone has any Buenos Aires travel advice, drop me a line via email or on the blog's comment page.

Ten best practices for teaching online

2011-04-08T13:43:00.003-02:30

This list of best practices for online teaching, provided by Tomorrow's Professor, is taken from Chapter 3 of The Online Teaching Survival Guide: Simple and Practical Pedagogical Tips by Boettcher and Conrad (2010):

Be present at the course site.
Create a supportive online course community.
Develop a set of explicit expectations for your learners and yourself as to how you will communicate and how much time students should be working on the course each week.
Use a variety of large group, small group, and individual work experiences.
Use synchronous and asynchronous activities.
Ask for informal feedback early in the term.
Prepare discussion posts that invite responses, questions, discussions, and reflections.
Search out and use content resources that are available in digital format if possible.
Combine core concept learning with customized and personalized learning.
Plan a good closing and wrap activity for the course.

Exploring the "boy crisis" in education

2011-04-07T12:42:00.003-02:30

The Canadian Council on Learning has released a new report which focuses on the issue of the growing gap between boys and girls in education. The report, The New Gender Gap: Exploring the ‘Boy Crisis’ in Education, addresses the following questions:

What is the situation regarding education and training participation and results for boys and men throughout the OECD, including post-secondary education and trades?
Are there policies and practices in place to attenuate unfavourable trends?
What are Canadian jurisdictions doing?
What do we know about the success and failure of various models OECD-wide with a focus on Germany, the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom?

Download the full report here in .pdf format.

Our boy in 3D!!!

2011-04-06T09:52:00.007-02:30

This June, Leigh and I will be welcoming a hotly anticipated addition to our family. Last night we had a 3D ultrasound, and here he is:

There are more images here on Facebook.

Nova Scotia budget's student financial aid measures

2011-04-05T16:51:00.006-02:30

The government of Nova Scotia has released its provincial budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year. The province suggests it is focused on "fixing Canada’s weakest student assistance system" with the following measures:

Keep Nova Scotians’ tuition below the national average by investing $30 million in student bursaries to replace the expired Nova Scotia University Student Bursary Trust. This new, provincially funded commitment will provide a tuition reduction of $1,283 for Nova Scotia students studying in the province.

Create the first “debt cap” in the province’s history, providing Nova Scotia students with a reduction of up to 36 per cent in total debt under the new $28,560 maximum debt cap. For students and parents, that means a drop of up to $16,320 in the maximum amount of debt a student may carry.

Offer up to $612 per year in additional grants, through an increase in the loan-to-grant ratio from 20 to 30 per cent.

Double the in-study earnings exemption on student loans—from $50 per week to $100 per week.

Increase the amount allowed for the purchase of books by 50 per cent, from $1,000 to $1,500.

Protect students by capping tuition increases at 3 per cent.

Continue the successful Graduate Retention Rebate, which provides a tax credit of up to $15,000 to university graduates, and $7,500 for community college graduates, over six years.

Sustainable development in African universities

2011-04-05T10:49:00.002-02:30

In this interview from the Global University Network for Innovation, Heila Lotz-Sisistka of Rhodes University (South Africa) discusses different ways of understanding sustainable development in African universities.

Does online learning help low-income and under-prepared students?

2011-04-04T12:08:00.005-02:30

New paper from the Community College Research Center:

Advocates of online learning are optimistic about its potential to promote greater access to college by reducing the cost and time of commuting and, in the case of asynchronous approaches, by allowing students to study on a schedule that is optimal for them. This goal of improved access has been one of the top motivators for postsecondary institutions to expand their distance education offerings, which has in turn helped drive a strong increase in online course enrollments over the last decade. A series of technology based classroom initiatives has also attracted strong attention from postsecondary educators. The enthusiasm surrounding these and other innovative, technology-based programs has led educators to ask whether the continuing expansion of online learning could be leveraged to increase the academic access, progression, and success of low income and underprepared college students.

This paper examines the literature for evidence regarding the impact of online learning on these populations. First, a research review strongly suggests that online coursework—at least as it is currently and typically implemented—may hinder progression for low-income and underprepared students. Second, the paper explores why students might struggle in these courses, discusses current access barriers to online education, and offers suggestions on how public policy and institutional practice could be changed to allow online learning to better meet its potential for these students.

Download the full paper here in .pdf format.

Australia is no place for People and Place

2011-04-04T08:45:00.004-02:30

Another noteworthy example of the impact of marketization on public post-secondary institutions:

The final edition of one of Australia's most oft-quoted academic journals has just been published. The controversial founder of People and Place, Dr Bob Birrell, used his final editorial to savage the federal government's Excellence in Research for Australia initiative, which he believes has led to the journal's demise and is affecting academics in the humanities and social sciences.

Birrell founded People and Place at Monash University with co-editor Dr Katherine Betts from Swinburne University in 1993, two years after he had established the Centre for Population and Urban Research at Monash. He and his team have produced the journal four times a year for the past 18 years and it has generated more heated discussions about a wide range of topical issues than any other such venture in the country.

Although as enthusiastic as he ever was regarding the work he does, Birrell is pessimistic about the future of free academic inquiry, especially in public policy areas.

He says this is because of the impact of the federal government's Excellence in Research for Australia initiative, which is overseen by the Australian Research Council and was created to analyse the research strengths of the nation's universities and reward those at the top.

Read on here and here at University World News.

Post-secondary bits and bites at week's end

2011-04-01T08:56:00.011-02:30

Although this has been an eventful week in Canadian post-secondary education, end-of-semester crunch time makes it difficult for me to adhere to the Cardinal Rule of blogging: "update your blog regularly". Here's a round-up of some of the more noteworthy happenings in Canadian post-secondary education this week:

On Tuesday, federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff pledged to make $1 billion in funding available to high school students who plan to pursue post-secondary education. The so-called "Learning Passport", which would utilize Registered Education Savings Plans, has received a mix of positive and negative reviews.

Also on Tuesday, the Ontario government released its 2011 budget which included over $300 million over 5 years to increase the number of student spaces at colleges and universities by 60,000. The budget also includes changes to the provincial student loan program and additional funds for adult literacy and basic skills programs. The budget has, typically, received mixed reviews.

Tuesday evening I attended the 2011 Aldrich Interdisciplinary Lecture at Memorial University, which was delivered by Academica Group’s Ken Steele. Steele's take on "The Road Ahead for Higher Education" was both insightful and encouraging.

On Wednesday, the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations launched an on-line campaign to highlight issues of importance to Canadian youth during the federal election and to encourage young Canadians to vote. The campaign website features video commentary by comedian, CBC host, and Newfoundland's pride, Rick Mercer.

On Thursday, several thousand college and university students demonstrated against Quebec's proposed increase in tuition fees. In Montreal, riot police used pepper spray and stun grenades to disperse tuition protesters.

Completion behaviour of registered apprentices

2011-03-29T09:51:00.003-02:30

A new study from Statistics Canada uses data from the 2007 National Apprenticeship Survey to investigate factors related program completion amongst registered apprentices.

The results indicate that program completion is positively related to a number of demographic characteristics, including being married, having fewer children, and having completed at least a high school education prior to beginning an apprenticeship. Divorced and single individuals, Aboriginal people, visible minorities, individuals with an activity limitation, and those with low education levels are all less likely to complete their apprenticeships. The report also looks at the impact of a variety of other factors including the type of training completed, trade group, time in the apprenticeship program, number of employers during training, and the apprentice's province of residence.

The full report, The Completion Behaviour of Registered Apprentices: Who Continues, Who Quits, and Who Completes Programs?, may be downloaded here in .pdf format.

Rick's Rant - Voting 101

2011-03-28T09:23:00.005-02:30

As we head into the first week of a 5-week federal election campaign, I offer up Rick Mercer's Voting 101 rant to post-secondary students (from the last federal election in 2008):

Weekend music blogging: KMAG YOYO

2011-03-25T21:48:00.003-02:30

KMAG YOYO ("kiss my ass guys, you're on your own" in military slang) is the title track on the fourth album from Texas troubadour Hayes Carll.

Building the case for apprenticeships

2011-03-25T15:16:00.002-02:30

An article in the latest issue of the Canadian Apprenticeship Journal compares the labour market outcomes of apprentices with outcomes for graduates of other college programs and other individuals who did not pursue post-secondary education. Here's the abstract:

Secondary provincial and national data sources were used to assess and analyze key labour market outcomes of apprenticeship completers. The key outcomes analyzed include employment status, relatedness of job to training, wages earned, job satisfaction and job security. Outcomes of apprenticeship completers were compared with outcomes of individuals who pursued other postsecondary program options (excluding university graduates) and those who did not pursue any postsecondary education. A comparison of data from secondary sources provides insight into key labour market outcomes of the following groups: apprenticeship completers, individuals who took a postsecondary trades-related program, individuals who took a postsecondary technical/applied program, and individuals who did not complete any postsecondary training. Based on available and comparable data, short-, medium- and long-term outcomes of apprentices are presented in this paper, and demonstrate that their labour market outcomes are more positive than those of the other groups identified, thus supporting the case for pursuing and completing an apprenticeship.

Reference: Malatest, R., Rose, A., & McCann, A. (2011). Building a case for pursuing and completing apprenticeship. Canadian Apprenticeship Journal, 4(Spring 2011), 1–17.

Student engagement and persistence: Reconsidering the relationship

2011-03-24T15:33:00.006-02:30

An article in current print issue of Innovative Higher Education examines the relationship between post-secondary student persistence and academic and social engagement. The abstract:

Using data from two rounds of surveys on students in the Washington State Achievers (WSA) program, this study examined the relationship between student engagement in college activities and student persistence in college. Different approaches using student engagement measures in the persistence models were compared. The results indicated that the relationship between student engagement and the probability of persisting was not linear. Even though a higher level of social engagement was related to an increased probability of persisting, a higher level of academic engagement was negatively related to such probability. The findings have strong implications for educational research, policy, and practice.

Reference: Hu, S. (2011). Reconsidering the relationship between student
engagement and persistence in college. Innovative Higher Education, 36(2), 97–106.

Saskatchewan budget caps tuition hikes at 3%

2011-03-24T10:16:00.002-02:30

From the Regina Leader-Post:

In the budget released on Wednesday, the Government of Saskatchewan committed to providing $24.6 million to limit tuition increases to about three per cent for Saskatchewan universities, SIAST and the regional colleges.

The budget provides more than $125 million in total to post-secondary studies.
. . .

Also allocated is $97.8 million to support students through loans, scholarships, grants, bursaries, the Provincial Training Allowance, the Apprenticeship Training Allowance, the Skills Training Benefit and the Graduate Retention Program. An additional $3 million will be for the new Saskatchewan Advantage Scholarship, but details on the scholarship are not yet known.

PSE in the 2011 federal budget

2011-03-22T18:32:00.003-02:30

The Harper minority Conservatives have delivered their sixth budget since coming to power in 2006. Here are some of the more notable post-secondary-related bits and pieces I've picked out of the 2011 Budget in Brief:

$9 million a year for student-loan forgiveness for doctors and nurses working in rural and remote areas;
$9 million over 2 years to increase adult basic education and opportunities in the North;
making occupational, trade, and professional examination fees eligible for the Tuition Tax Credit;
$34 million a year to expand eligibility for Canada Student Loans and Grants;
$10 million in tax relief to Canadian students pursuing post-secondary education abroad;
$60 million to promote student enrollment in disciplines related to the "digital economy";
$10 million over 2 years to develop an "international education strategy" for Canada;
$12 million over 5 years toward the Canada-India Research Centre of Excellence;
$53.5 million over 5 years to create 10 new Canada Excellence Research Chairs;
$47 million a year for the 3 federal research granting councils;
30 new Industrial Research Chairs at colleges with $3 million in 2011–12 and $5 million a year on a permanent basis starting in 2012–13;
$12 million over 5 years, starting in 2011–12, through the Idea to Innovation program to support joint college-university commercialization projects;
$100 million for a Canada Brain Research Fund to support research in the areas related to neuroscience and brain disorders;
$35 million over 5 years to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to support climate and atmospheric research; and
$50 million over 5 years to the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.

None of this is likely to matter, however, since none of the opposition parties are planning to support the budget.