In June of this year, a report was released on governance at Concordia University. The 39-page report was written by the External Governance Review Committee, a three-person committee chaired by none other than Bernard J. Shapiro (Canada’s first Ethics Commissioner). The report paints a picture of a rogue Board of Governors that ignored its own […]
Continue readingTag: post-secondary education
The Progressive Economics Forum: Tuition Increases by Stealth
On Tuesday night, Peterborough City Council approved a plan for a for-profit corporation to own and operate a new student residence at Trent University. I’m concerned that this may signal a new trend at Canadian universities; about a year ago, I blogged about a similar plan at the University of Toronto. I am not opposed […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Global University Rankings
The European University Association (EUA) recently released a report they’d commissioned entitled Global University Rankings and Their Impact. The report was written by Andrejs Rauhvargers. According to the EAU, one of their major motivations in commissioning the report was that their member universities are “often under pressure to appear in the rankings, or to improve their position in […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: How To Fund Innovation
Just over a year ago, I wrote an opinion piece about the federal government’s “innovation strategy” and its impact on the post-secondary education sector. In the piece, I argue that the strategy has resulted in significant funding increases for university R&D. But I also argue in the piece that the strategy creates winners and losers–i.e. a “world class” doctoral student […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Use University Research to Increase Manufacturing Jobs
Manufacturing jobs have been declinining as a percentage of total jobs in most OECD countries for several decades, with Ontario being especially hard-hit as a jurisdiction. At the end of the Second World War, manufacturing jobs accounted for 26% of all Canadian jobs; by 2007, this figure had dropped to just 12%. And as I’ve […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Fix PSE System Before Building Addition!
According to an article in yesterday’s Toronto Star, the Ontario government will create room for 60,000 new students in its colleges and universities by 2015-2016, 10% of which will be for graduate students. (I assume this means that, by 2015-2016, there will be 60,000 more students enroled in Ontario’s post-secondary insitutions than is currently the case, and that […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Reduce Student Debt to Reduce Household Debt
At this year’s Annual Conference of the Canadian Economics Association, Armine Yalnizyan gave a presentation entitled “Surviving the Recovery: The Distribution of Canadian Household Debt.” The panel was co-sponsored by the Canadian Association for Business Economics and the Progressive Economics Forum. As Armine made clear in her presentation, household debt in Canada has steadily risen over the […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Access to Post-Secondary Education
I recently had the chance to read a 2008 book entitled Who Goes? Who Stays? What Matters? Accessing and Persisting in Post-Secondary Education in Canada. Edited by Ross Finnie, Richard Mueller, Arthur Sweetman and Alex Usher, the anthology features 14 chapters written by a total of 21 authors. I found Chapter 4 (co-authored by […]
Continue readingConfessions of a Liberal Mind: Irony
Libs put out a policy that will help youth get to post secondary education in the future. Damn good policy to get kids to post secondary education and create a better society! Could this help get the youth vote out? Are they too busy watching Justin Bieber and playing xbox360?
Continue readingConfessions of a Liberal Mind: Irony
Libs put out a policy that will help youth get to post secondary education in the future. Damn good policy to get kids to post secondary education and create a better society! Could this help get the youth vote out? Are they too busy watching Justin …
Continue readingConfessions of a Liberal Mind: Irony
Libs put out a policy that will help youth get to post secondary education in the future. Damn good policy to get kids to post secondary education and create a better society! Could this help get the youth vote out? Are they too busy watching Justin Bieber and playing xbox360?
Continue reading