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Harvey P. Weingarten – “Plans are useless but planning is indispensable.”

These are the words of former US President Dwight Eisenhower about how one plans for battle. One reason “I like Ike” is that his words capture HEQCO’s philosophy of planning. He understood that plans are useless when they get too specific, try to predict the future with certainty, and prompt fights over every comma in […]

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Cassandra Cao — Machine learning trending on campus

Sentient robots used to be the creatures of science fiction novels, but the future is here. Artificial intelligence quietly recommends the next movie in your Netflix queue, it reminds you of the fastest routes to work just before you leave the house, and it recognizes your face in a selfie and automatically focuses your camera […]

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EduData: Students’ perspectives on work-integrated learning

Almost half of Ontario’s postsecondary students take part in a co-op, internship, field placement or some other form of work-integrated learning (WIL) by the time they graduate. HEQCO’s research focus is on the quality of students’ WIL experiences. We asked Academica Group to survey college and university students on their perceptions about WIL. Among students […]

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Matt Ross – Telling the story of higher ed

As a journalism grad and someone who has been fascinated by newspapers for most of my life, some days it feels pretty bleak. Job losses, cutbacks and storied newspapers going “digital only” are now routine. And as newspapers shrink, so does the space for coverage of higher education. A new HEQCO report says coverage of […]

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Harvey P. Weingarten – Postsecondary education and jobs: It’s a question of skills

This week, we released a study examining the relationship between the supply of graduates from six regulated professions – medicine, law, teaching, architecture, engineering, nursing – and the labour demand for these graduates.  The historical evidence provided in that analysis is clear – we never get it right! We either oversupply or undersupply. This conclusion […]

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Harvey P. Weingarten – Why so little information in a sector drowning in data?

One of the most important lessons I learned in graduate school is that evidence and data matter.  So, when there is a problem to be solved, a challenge to be met, or a strategy or policy to be designed, thinking should be informed, shaped and guided by the best evidence, data and information available.   Regrettably, […]

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Lisa Philipps, Joseph Turcotte and Leslie Nichols – The downsides of postsecondary co-op work placements

Canadian higher education is entering a new age of “work-integrated” learning. More and more students are seeking a co-op placements, internships or other hands-on work experience as part of their postsecondary program. Long present at community colleges, universities are now also moving into this space, and policy makers are urging them to do more. The […]

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EduData – Ontario PhD Grads by Discipline

This spring, we published an examination of employment outcomes for Ontario PhD graduates from the class of 2009. Ontario’s PhD Graduates from 2009: Where are they now? found that more than 50% are working in higher education. Arguably more interesting are the employment outcomes of the 35% of 2009 PhD graduates who are working outside […]

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EduData – The landscape of learning outcomes assessment in Canada

To gain a better understanding of current learning outcomes assessment practices used across Canada, we surveyed provosts and VP academics in colleges and universities. This infographic highlights some of our key findings. Click here for the full report. University | College