To meet the challenges currently facing it—chief among them, to remain viable in an era when traditional sources of funding such as state funding and tuition are decreasing or reaching their market limits—higher education depends on its leaders’ capacities to deal with current challenges, envision change, and make that change happen. In March 2012, the TIAA-CREF Institute hosted a summit on leadership and governance to explore what it will take to steer higher education through this new landscape.
Le processus d’internationalisation des établissements d’enseignement technique suit une évolution qui lui est propre et qui est fortement influencée par le contexte géopolitique local (Gallagher & Dennison, 1995). Cette étude analyse l’évolution des activités internationales et des stratégies organisationnelles des collèges d’enseignement général et professionnel
(cégeps) entre 2000 et 2014, afin d’identifier la phase qui caractérise le mieux le processus d’internationalisation (Raby & Valeau, 2007), de même que l’influence du contexte géopolitique sur ce processus. Les données tirées des quatre enquêtes réalisées par Cégep international (2000, 2005, 2010) et la Fédération des cégeps (2014) montrent une croissance soutenue des
activités internationales, mais un recul entre 2010 et 2014 des stratégies organisationnelles, ce qui suggère l’entrée d’une cinquième phase – postinstitutionnalisation – que nous appelons phase de la diffusion. L’émergence d’une communauté de pratique formée par le Gouvernement du Québec, les cégeps et la Fédération des cégeps aurait favorisé cette croissance, et la
réorientation des objectifs gouvernementaux pourrait expliquer le recul récent des stratégies organisationnelles.
The internationalization of technical education institutions is influenced by the local geopolitical context (Gallagher & Dennison, 1995). This study analyzes the evolution of international activities and organizational strategies taking place in Quebec’s collèges d’enseignement general et professionnel (CEGEPs) between 2000 and 2014, in order to identify the internationalization phase (Raby & Valeau, 2007) and assess the influence of Quebec’s geopolitical context. The data come from four surveys conducted by CEGEP International (2000, 2005, 2010) and the Federation of CEGEPs (2014), and they show a sustained growth of all international activities, but a decline in organization strategies between 2010 and 2014. We formulate the hypothesis that CEGEPs have entered a fifth and post-institutionalization phase that we called “dispersion”.
A community of practice including the Government of Quebec, CEGEPs and the Federation of CEGEPs would have contributed to the growth of international activities, and recent changes in the government’s policy emphasis could explain the decline in CEGEPs’ organizational strategies.
This paper replicates the work of Giles and Drewes from the 1990s.They showed a catch-up effect whereby graduates of liberal arts undergraduate programs, although at an early-career disadvantage compared with graduates of applied programs, had higher incomes by mid-career. Working with the Panel 5 Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (2005–2010), the catch-
up no longer exists.
Diversifying the professoriate has long been a priority on many campuses, and such goals have only grown more urgent in light of recent national and local discussions about race. Yet college and university faculties have become just slightly more diverse in the last 20 years, according to a new study from the TIAA Institute. Most importantly, as faculty jobs have become more stratified with the growth of non-tenure-track positions over the same period, most gains for underrepresented minority groups have been in the most precarious positions. That is, not on the tenure track.
Graduate students are assumed to develop skills in oral and written communication and collegial relationships that are complementary to formal graduate programs. However, it appears only a small number of universities provide such professional development opportunities alongside academic programs, and even fewer do so online. There appears to be an assumption in higher education that students develop professional skills by virtue of learning through required academic tasks and having proximity to other students and faculty. Skeptics of online study raise questions about whether graduate students studying online can participate fully in such graduate communities and access these informal professional skill-building opportunities. It is possible that such activities may have to be designed and delivered for online graduate students.
OECD’s Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) has worked on Open Educational Resources (OER) in the past, which led to the publication Giving Knowledge for Free – the Emergence of Open Educational Resources (2007). This working paper thus builds on exploratory and forward-looking research in CERI and invites countries to consider the policy implications of the expansion of OER, its benefits and associated challenges.
A small OER expert group was established to discuss the subject, link it to other relevant developments in the field, and develop a draft questionnaire for member countries in order to collect information regarding the policy context related to OER. The expert group met in June 2011 and for a second time in September 2011. The questionnaire was sent to the 34 OECD member countries in August 2011. It outlined a short informative note about the benefits and challenges of OER. The responses to the questionnaire are analysed in this document.
For most educators, writing a philosophy of teaching statement is a daunting task. Sure they can motivate the most lackadaisical of students, juggle a seemingly endless list of responsibilities, make theory and applications of gas chromatography come alive for
students, all the while finding time to offer a few words of encouragement to a homesick freshman. But articulating their teaching philosophy? It’s enough to give even English professors a case of writer’s block.
According to data released by Statistics Canada in 2014, the years of 2000 - 2010 have seen significant increases in large and private debt among graduating students, and skyrocketing private debt among graduates with doctoral degrees. Although the
percentage of graduates in debt appears to be decreasing overall in this decade, this is both because of the introduction of the Canada Student Grants Program (which turns a portion of student loans into non-repayable grants) and because enrollment growth has outpaced increases in student loan borrowing. Even so, those who are borrowing are taking on much higher debts,and increasingly from private sources.
Colleges and institutes play a lead role in strengthening regional capacity to innovate and work with industry partners to enhance competitiveness in the sectors and communities they serve. They conduct leading-edge applied research projects with industry partners to provide market ready solutions.
Whether it’s the creation of a rapid oil containment cling pad to clean up small scale oil or fuel spills, the development of intelligent textiles to meet consumer specific needs, or building award winning cutting edge web technology, colleges and institutes help small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) innovate and grow by focusing on improvements in technologies, processes, products and services.
The Government of Canada’s Tri-Council College and Community Innovation (CCI) Program administered by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council in collaboration with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research is making a real difference in growing the capacity of colleges and institutes to engage in industry-driven applied research and providing SMEs with the expertise required to be more innovative and productive.
Using two conceptual frameworks from political science—Kingdon’s (2003) multiple streams model and the advocacy coalition framework (Sabatier & Jenkins-Smith, 1993)—this case study examines the detailed history of a major tuition policy change in Ontario in 2004: a tuition freeze. The paper explores the social, political, and economic factors that influenced policymakers on this particular change to shed light on the broader questions of the dynamics of postsecondary policymaking. The study found that the Liberal Party’s decision to freeze postsecondary tuition fees was a function of stakeholder relations, public opinion, and brokerage politics, designed for electoral success. The policy implementation strategy was intended to facilitate the cooperation and interests of the major institutions. Within the broader policy community, student-organized interest groups and other policy advocates were aligned in a policy preference, a critical component for successful change.
À l’aide de deux cadres conceptuels en science politique, le modèle à volets multiples de Kingdon (2003) et le cadre de coalitions de défense de Sabatier et Jenkins-Smith (1993), la présente étude de cas examine l’histoire détaillée d’un changement majeur en matière de politique de frais de scolarité qui a eu lieu en Ontario en 2004 : le gel des frais de scolarité. Le présent article examine les facteurs sociaux, politiques et économiques qui ont dirigé certains responsables
politiques vers ce changement particulier, afin de faire la lumière sur les questions plus générales portant sur la dynamique de
l’élaboration de politiques en matière d’enseignement postsecondaire. L’étude conclut que la décision du parti Libéral de geler les frais de scolarité des études postsecondaires relevait de relations avec les intervenants, d’opinion publique et de politique de médiation, dans le but de remporter les élections. La stratégie de mise en œuvre de la politique visait à faciliter la coopération et les intérêts entre institutions d’envergure. Au sein d’une communauté politique plus large, des groupes d’intérêt étudiants et d’autres défenseurs de la politique partageaient la même préférence politique, un élément essentiel
à la réussite de ce changement.
Whenever a leadership transition is in the works, there is a fair amount of gossip about who will stay and who will go. Will the incoming leader vote everyone off the island and bring in a new team to ensure the loyalty of all lieutenants? Or will there be an effort to retain those who can support a smooth transition from the past to the future?
After witnessing quite a few leadership transitions — both inside and outside of higher education — I've discovered some secrets of the folks who seem to have Herculean staying power. I call them the "protected people."
Powerful things happen when leaders from diverse backgrounds gather and commit time to dialogue on a single issue. The results of the dialogue are even more powerful when those leaders are well informed and committed to action. When the issue at hand is central to a whole country’s future, the results of this dialogue must be shared so that others can join in.
The National Working Summit on Aboriginal Postsecondary Education produced important commitments for action from its participants and substantive policy recommendations for the federal government. The summit was held at Six Nations Polytechnic on October 5, 2010. Over 50 participants from universities, colleges, Aboriginal institutes, charities, Aboriginal organizations and the private sector took part.
Nous cherchons à mesurer l’effi cience d’approches inductive ou déductive à court et à long terme sur l’apprentissage par des élèves de 1re secondaire de savoirs relatifs au complément du nom. Dans le cadre de cette expérimentation, les résultats montrent que l’approche déductive permet une appropriation signifi cativement plus grande, mais uniquement pour des aspects morphologiques. Par ailleurs, il semble que l’approche pédagogique ait moins d’incidence sur l’apprentissage que l’effet-enseignant, peu importe l’approche préconisée par l’enseignant. La discussion des résultats portera sur l’importance
de différentes variables de l’intervention éducative autre que l’approche pédagogique. Mots clés : approche déductive, approche inductive, approches pédagogiques, complément du nom, effet-enseignant, grammaire.
We attempt to measure the ef ficiency of inductive or deductive approaches to short and long-term learning of knowledge about the “complément du nom” by French as a fi rst language secondary 1 students. Our results show that, in the context of our experiment, the deductive approach allows greater appropriation of morphological aspects. Moreover, it seems that the
pedagogical approach has less impact on the learning than the teacher effect, regardless of the approach used. We will discuss our results in putting forward the importance of some conditions of the educative intervention. Keywords: complément du nom, deductive approach, grammar, inductive approach, pedagogical approaches, learning, teacher effect.
At the heart of Concordia University’s mission and tradition is respect for every member of its community. The university is committed to equality, dignity, and the building and maintaining of a healthy, safe and respectful environment.
Behaviours commonly associated with rape culture, such as victim blaming, normalizing sexual objectification and violence, are absolutely unacceptable in the Concordia community. As such, sexual violence violates our institutional values, in particular the rights of individuals in our university community to be treated with dignity and respect.
Concordia has taken many important steps to creating a safe environment. It was the first university in Canada to create the position of sexual harassment advisor in 1987 and one of the first to adopt a policy on sexual harassment in the early 1990s. It was also among the first Canadian universities to create an Ombuds Office in the 1970s. In 2013, the university launched the Sexual Assault Resource Centre (SARC) to inform the campus community about consent and prevention, and to provide
survivor support.
Canada’s “skills gap” has come to dominate both headlines and policy debates. Employers and business
representatives report a growing mismatch between the skills they need in employees and those possessed by job seekers. These concerns have fostered suggestions that the postsecondary system is not graduating students with the skills required by the labour market.
But not everyone is convinced. A growing chorus of voices questions whether or not such a gap actually exists in the Canadian economy. Nor is it clear when the skills gap is discussed that commentators have the same phenomenon in mind. Some consider the skills gap problem to result from a lack of postsecondary graduates to meet the impending demand for high-skilled workers, while others see it as a problem of students graduating with the wrong credentials for the labour market. Some suggest that Canadian students have the right credentials but not the basic essential skills needed by employers. Still others suggest that
students have the right skills but lack the work experience employers demand.
A new, market-based vision for higher education has taken shape in recent years, and the direction and priorities of higher education policy in Canada have shifted alongside it.
As Canadian businesses look for new ways to empower workplace learning to meet demands to achieve more while having fewer resources available for training and development, interest in delivering programs using different kinds of instructional pproaches (e.g., face-to-face, problem-based learning, coaching) combined with a variety of technologies (e.g. discussion boards, e-content, conference calls) – generally referred to as blended learning – is growing. These blended learning strategies can be designed to provide opportunities for supporting just-in-time (i.e., immediate) access to learning tools and supports anywhere, anytime - especially important when the objective is to improve performance on the job. Generally, research in this area has focused on comparisons of classroom versus online courses versus blended programs indicating blended programs out-deliver either online or classroom when used alone. However, analysis of the impact of different blended learning strategies on personal soft-skills (e.g., coaching, teamwork, critical thinking) development and job performance has not been given much attention. The focus of this research study was to compare the learning impact/outcomes of four different blended learning strategies (offered in parallel in each of four research groups) based on a theoretical model emerging from work reported by Adams (2004). Each level in the model was defined by a different blended learning strategy that moves from a very loose coupling of personal learning with job performance in level 1 (e.g., online learning used as a background resource for self-directed learning), to tighter and tighter couplings of learning with job performance in level 2 (e.g., online materials integrated with a structured classroom course and required as pre-and post work) and level 3 where online learning materials were integrated with personal learning objectives and blended with collaborative discussion forums and peer coaching. Level 4, defined in this model as a very tight coupling of personal learning with job performance in relation to the previous three blended learning strategies mentioned involved using online learning materials to support personal job-based projects where participants worked on the projects as part of their learning (i.e., an action-learning pedagogical approach) where a demonstrable return on learning (ROL) was measured.
Dear Students: I think it’s time we had the talk. You know, the one couples who’ve been together for a while ometimes have to review boundaries and expectations? Your generation calls this "DTR" — short for "defining the elationship."
We definitely need to define our relationship because, first of all, it is a long-term relationship — maybe not between ou and me, specifically, but between people like you (students) and people like me (professors). And, second, it ppears to need some defining, or redefining. I used to think the boundaries and expectations were clear on both sides, but that no longer seems to be the case.
Currently, there is great interest across Ontario in the expansion of pathway programs between colleges and universities. Through strategic partnerships, two Ontario-based postsecondary institutions (a college and a university) have developed innovative and effective pathway programs that facilitate the transition of students between institutions for the completion of degrees, diplomas, and certificates. These programs support the training of highly qualified, market-ready graduates. This paper reports on a mixed-methods study of the successes and challenges of a particular Ontario college and university
pathway program, with a focus on the Bachelor of Commerce Pathway program. Preliminary results indicate that pathway students were more academically successful than their traditional university student counterparts but did experience a number of challenges in transitioning from college into university. Principal challenges included inefficient communication between
program administrators, academic advisors, and students; lack of orientation activities for pathway students; lack of college student preparedness in communication and critical thinking skills; and difficulties experienced by college
students integrating into the social–cultural life of the university.
LEESA WHEELAHAN
This contribution to the symposium on Michael Young’s article ‘Overcoming the crisis in curriculum theory: a knowledge based approach’, supports his contention that curricu- lum theory has lost sight of its object—‘what is taught and learned in schools’, and argues that this has particularly deleterious consequences for vocational education and training (VET). VET is
unproblematically positioned as applied, experiential and work- focused learning, and it is seen as a solution for those who are alienated from or unsuc- cessful in more traditional forms of academic education. This article argues that rather than being a mechanism for social inclusion, VET is instead a key way in which social inequality is mediated and reproduced because it excludes students from accessing the theoretical knowledge they need to participate in debates and controversies in society and in their occupational field of practice. It presents a social realist analysis to argue why VET students need access to theoretical knowledge, how a focus on experiential and applied learning constitutes a mechanism for social exclusion and what a ‘knowledge rich’ VET curriculum would look like.
Keywords: vocational education and training; social realism; applied
disciplinary knowledge; curriculum; knowledge