Voices from HEQCO’s November 2014 conference Hands On: Exploring Apprenticeship and the Skilled Trades Guest blogger: Sarah Watts-Rynard Despite some debate about whether or not Canada is experiencing a skills shortage – economists say no, employers say yes – the reality is that a generation of expert tradespeople is moving toward retirement age. Their […]
Guest blogger: David Trick Amid all the anniversary celebrations in higher education in recent years, one more deserves to be noted: May 8 is the 50th birthday of Ontario’s Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. Until 1964, the Premier was in effect the minister responsible for Ontario’s universities. Premier John Robarts had an Advisory […]
Sharing the best in postsecondary news and commentary I do appreciate a good longitudinal/historical critique. This recent meta-analysis by researchers at UNB looks at Gender Differences in Scholastic Achievement over 100 years (since 1914) and concludes that females have always done better than males and that all the recent talk of a crisis in boys’ […]
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Martin Hicks – Data in Quarantine
Higher education is often pitched as an investment — by individuals in their future, and by the public in a strong economy and an engaged citizenry. Good investors do their homework and base their decisions on facts and data. Does Canada have sufficient data to make healthy investment decisions in higher education? As was underscored […]
Sharing the best in postsecondary news and commentary Last week the American PayScale put out their annual report on return on investment (ROI). They have an interactive site you can play with here. There was plenty of commentary, with the Atlantic writing about which degrees make you richer and the New York Times writing about […]
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Martin Hicks – The alchemist’s dream
Just tell me, please, where the jobs of the future will be. Then those working in higher education can plan accordingly, adjust the credential and programming mix, and drive students into the right programs. Actually students won’t need driving, because they will surely make superior choices and not continue to stumble into the humanities or […]
One of the many things we do at HEQCO is read the trades. We try to keep up on the latest research, as well as the media commentary, relevant books and the blogosphere. We read the good, the bad, the controversial and the bland. This year, we thought it might be nice to share with […]
This piece from Time came out in June 2012 (thanks to a colleague for bringing it to my attention), but it’s still on point so I wanted to share. It also contains one of the best lines I read this week: “Candidate must have previous experience operating a cotton candy machine.” The writer makes the worthy […]
Guest blogger: Donna Kotsopoulos Recent international and national standardized tests suggest that mathematical ability in Canada is on the decline. There is other evidence, too. Fewer students are completing mathematics degrees. Retention in those degrees is very poor. Many students that endure, struggle in their studies and require lots of additional resources to succeed. Women […]