Welcome to the latest episode of It’sNotAcademic: the podcast – education conversations from HEQCO. Last month, HEQCO invited experts from across Canada and the world to take part in a two-day workshop examining a big question: “How do you assess qualiy in higher education?” One of the participants was Hamish Coates, professor of higher education […]
By 2025: Every Ontario student has an equitable opportunity to attend and succeed in postsecondary education. HEQCO’s long-term goal for access to higher education was front and centre at our 2017 conference, Rethinking Access: When non-traditional is the new normal. It was also the focus of a conference first for us: a hands-on, interactive workshop, […]
There has been much discussion in the postsecondary education community about the importance of experiential learning as an innovative pedagogy and key path to smoothing the transition to the job market for graduates. Research indicates that when students can connect their experiences in the classroom to outside the classroom, engagement increases and the transition to […]
With Thursday’s unveiling of the 2017 provincial budget, we’re reminded that last year’s budget included an announcement (with great fanfare) of reforms to the Ontario Student Assistance Program, or OSAP. Those reforms were designed to encourage and support more low-income youth to attend postsecondary education, and, as HEQCO has said before, that’s a really great […]
Welcome to the latest episode of ItsNotAcademic – the podcast, education conversations from HEQCO. In anticipation of our Rethinking Access conference we have explored many dimensions of access on this podcast, but one area we have not yet discussed is the skilled trades. The trades are often left out of conversations about postsecondary education, despite […]
Welcome to the latest episode of ItsNotAcademic – the podcast, education conversations from HEQCO. The importance of mentorship and positive role models is often discussed in conversations around promoting access to higher education. Obviously these concepts are important, but why? What need do mentors serve and how do you identify and connect with students who […]
In my last blog, I argued that the quality of a postsecondary education could be measured by the degree to which it met academic requirements or needs. I also argued that one non-negotiable and essential requirement or need of a postsecondary education is that students receive an education that equips them with the knowledge and […]
When I started working at the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) I asked the obvious question, given the title of the organization: What is quality? I became even more invested in this question when I discovered that the legislation that created HEQCO required us to advise the government on the quality of Ontario’s […]
Without the money for a trip around the world, would you expect to go? Without the expectation of taking the trip, would you bother purchasing a guide book, packing your bags or booking flights? It’s a crude analogy, but consider the parallels for high school students and postsecondary education. If students don’t believe they have […]